Identity Crisis
by MissJayne
Summary: The good news: the hostage taker doesn't know if he has the Director of NCIS. The bad news: no one else knows either. When MTAC is controlled by a gunman, all hell breaks loose. Some Jibbs. Lily!
1. Prologue

_A/N 1: As promised, here is the next Lily story. This is much shorter than Operation Lazarus turned out to be. The only spoilers are for the previous Lily stories, but it should be possible to read this story without having read the others (as usual). I wanted to write something with a serious twist in it, and I hope I have succeeded. I will only find out if it is working by reviews though, so please drop me a line! _

_A/N 2: Many thanks must go to my wonderful beta reader Kristen. She does a fabulous job, even when I swamp her with stories._

_Summary: The good news: the hostage taker doesn't know if he has the Director of NCIS. The bad news: no one else knows either. When MTAC is controlled by a gunman, all hell breaks loose. Some Jibbs. Lily!_

_For Sophie, who was as confused as I ended up when I first tried to explain this idea to her._

Identity Crisis

Chapter 1: Prologue

The Director of NCIS once again ran her fingers through her hair. MTAC was quiet, but it was buzzing with excitement, underpinned with a little nervousness as well.

On the big screen ahead of her, she continued to watch Nathan Fuller, a notorious drug lord, as he walked around the park, unaware that his reign was about to come to an end. Gibbs had managed to catch one of his underlings and persuaded him to roll for a deal. All they needed now was patience as the trap was set…

Gibbs sat next to her, omnipresent cup of coffee in hand. Truth be told, she knew he was annoyed at being there with her when he could be with his team. But they only had paperwork to do and she needed him present.

Cynthia stood over by the technicians, determined to watch the mission. The current scuttlebutt said that her nephew had been involved with Fuller's group and had struggled to get out. Cynthia wanted to see Fuller go down with her own eyes.

Not that the Director minded. She knew how family got under your skin and understood the lengths people were prepared to go for them. Her sister could be very protective when she wished to be.

Beside her, Gibbs took another sip of his coffee. "How much longer?" he asked.

The redhead opened her mouth to reply, but a tech beat her to it. "All clear. Proceed."

Everyone watched the screen with baited breath.

A young woman walked up to Fuller and smiled sweetly. She had been carefully chosen to appeal to his tastes. "Excuse me, sir?" she inquired, her soft Texas twang deliberately disarming. "Can you tell me where the Washington Monument is?"

Fuller smiled at her. "Sure, honey." He took her arm and let her to the edge of the road. "You want to go down that street and turn right in three blocks. You should be able to see it from there."

"Thanks," she smiled back. "I keep getting lost."

"I know the feeling," he replied. "I came here twenty years ago now and I still can't find my way round."

Back in MTAC, Gibbs snorted quietly. "Sounds like someone I know," he whispered in the redhead's ear.

Her response was to elbow him as she continued to watch the action.

While they had been conversing, a car had pulled up in front of them. Suddenly, the woman, an undercover Agent Short, kneed Fuller somewhere painful. He went down rapidly. She and another agent quickly bundled him in the back of the car and drove off at speed.

MTAC burst into cheers. Only the Director and Gibbs did not join in, although the latter allowed himself a little smile.

No one was expecting what happened next.

* * *

Gibbs had been silently congratulating himself for bringing Fuller down, when one of the techs stood up from the wall and produced a gun.

The room slowly fell silent as everyone realized what was going on.

Only Cynthia reacted with speed. She had been standing directly next to a keyboard and immediately typed in a fourteen digit alphanumeric code, sealing the doors and all transmissions.

The screen turned black.

"Robert Gilman," the Director spoke up, carefully keeping her voice level, not wanting to spook him.

"Get that screen back up," he ordered.

Gibbs took a moment to observe the man. He was short and stocky, with his brown hair shaved in a military style. Gibbs had seen him before, only a few times, and his gut hadn't picked anything up.

"I'm not going to do anything with a gun pointed at me," the redhead told him, standing up slowly so she could go toe to toe with her opponent.

Gibbs withheld a wince. Of the two sisters, he was stuck with the one he'd prefer not to have in this situation. He stood up too, choosing to keep his movements slow like the redhead. He was the only agent in the room, and thus the only one armed. If he could just get to his gun…

"Hey, you," Gilman demanded, turning the gun to Gibbs. "I want you to put down your weapon very slowly."

So much for Gilman forgetting about that small fact. Maybe having a shouting match with Jenny inside MTAC the other day had been a bad idea after all.

He did as he was ordered, mainly because Gilman had turned the gun back to the Director. He wasn't prepared to let her get shot any time soon. Only _he_ was allowed to shoot her.

"Now back up." Gilman reached down and picked up the gun, removing the bullets before kicking it under the seats.

Gibbs caught the redhead's eye and knew she was berating herself for leaving her gun in her office earlier. Still, at least Gilman wasn't aware that they were both carrying knives. They just needed to get close enough to use them.

"Unseal everything so I can make a few calls," Gilman ordered the Director again.

Once again, she shook her head. "Put down the gun, Rob, and we can talk."

Gibbs watched her carefully. She was not going to back down from this, he was sure of it. And it was his job to keep her safe.

He gently put his hands on her arms and maneuvered her so she was behind him slightly. He didn't need to see her face to know that she didn't appreciate the gesture. She'd once called him a 'chauvinistic old patriarch' and he guessed she was going to do it again when this was over.

Gilman let a smirk cross his features. "Perhaps I should prove how serious I am." He pulled the trigger once.

Gibbs felt a fiery pain in his abdomen as he collapsed in a heap on the floor. The redhead instantly knelt down to put pressure on his wound, ignoring the slow trickle of blood flowing through her fingers. Around the room, the techs and Cynthia looked shocked.

"Unseal everything," Gilman repeated, turning the gun back to the redhead.

* * *

Across town, Jenny and Lily woke at the same time.


	2. Time Marches On

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! I am going on vacation in a few days, so I will be updating more often than usual in order to leave you on a slight cliffhanger (cue evil laughter). A quick note for ParisNeverEnded - can you please enable your PMs because I have no other way to contact you! I forgot to reply to your questions in the review I left._

Chapter 2: Time Marches On

Jenny resisted the urge to throw the case file across the room, but only just.

The twins had finally gone to sleep in the next room. For now, they were in Lily's bedroom. Jenny had been too busy to go house hunting, what with trying to run an armed federal agency and look after two twelve-week-old babies. She hadn't been able to take maternity leave because most of Washington wasn't aware that she was a mother.

She wanted to keep it that way. Camilla and Rose needed protecting, and the best way for that to happen was for them not to exist. Lily had somehow wrangled birth certificates with their real details on them, but few people knew about them.

Her current job would have been easier if Lily was around. However, Jenny hadn't seen her sister recently and had no intention of catching up with her. Lily had shot their father in cold blood three months previously, and Jenny was finding it hard to forgive her.

Instead, Lily had disappeared on various CIA jaunts and stayed out of the way. They'd only been face to face once, shortly after they had arrived back in DC. Their meeting had been quiet and rushed. Lily had apologized profusely and promised a lot of things. First and foremost was that Jenny could have her apartment for the time being.

At first, Gibbs had practically moved in with her. She had found his presence a huge help. When she was exhausted, he let her stay in bed while he dealt with two screaming infants.

Except things had built up and put too much pressure on her. After a week of constant rows, she had ordered him out. He had clearly been stunned, but she had stood her ground. That same night she had dreamt of something happening in MTAC. It was too late to call him back and beg for his forgiveness, although it didn't stop her from wanting to do so.

She knew the dream would come true. Part of her was scared, not only for Jethro but also for the others in MTAC, while another part of her was excited. Her agent side. She had been watching Gilman like a hawk for the last two weeks, and she was prepared. She was going to carry her gun into MTAC, and possibly call the EMTs beforehand as well.

She sighed as she stared at the mountain of folders in front of her. If Lily were around, they would split the pile. If Jethro were around, he would ensure that she ate something and got some rest.

Trying to run an agency on less than an hour's sleep a night was a bad idea.

Where was Lily when you needed her? This night was going to be a long one…

* * *

Gibbs stared at his coffee as though it was the ugliest thing he had ever seen.

He was still fuming that Jenny had barred him from seeing his children. He couldn't understand what was going on inside her head, initially putting it down to hormones. But it had been a fortnight and she showed no sign of changing her mind.

He also didn't want to push her. Something was definitely wrong and he hoped she would open up to him soon.

What he really needed was someone who could explain the situation, someone who knew Jenny better than she knew herself.

Lily.

Unfortunately, the most aggravating person in his life had pulled a vanishing act. Her cell phone was switched off, his emails were getting nowhere, and she wasn't using her apartment. He had tried showing up at the CIA, only to be told that she was out of the country and couldn't be contacted.

He doubted the last part was true.

His next stop had been the school her son attended. Jasper had seemed bemused by the visit, but promised to ask his mother to call.

It hadn't worked.

Even if he could get hold of Lily, he doubted she could talk Jenny round. The two sisters hadn't exchanged a word since Romania, but there was still the chance that she could provide an insight. Or persuade Jenny to talk to him.

He glanced around the squad room, taking in the empty desks. His team, aware of his recent foul mood, was attempting to spend more time in Autopsy or with Abby. Not a day passed without another argument with Jenny, in her Director guise. Cynthia had taken to disappearing whenever he approached the office, and the squad room were being treated to the finer points of their disagreements.

He sensed someone watching him from the catwalk and looked up. The redhead glared at him.

How could this get any worse?

* * *

For once, none of the equipment in Abby's lab was working. This was not due to a series of malfunctions, but because the Goth was hiding in her office at the back with Tony, Ziva and McGee.

It had not been hard to figure out that Gibbs and Jenny had fallen out – they were trained investigators after all. Gibbs' usual grumpiness was even starting to affect Abby.

The Goth was upset that he was no longer bringing her Caf-Pows, and she missed her little kisses on the cheek. He had not praised her in a week or allowed her to hug him. He had even asked her to turn her music down.

Therefore, Abby had come to the conclusion that something needed to be done to bring the two star-crossed lovers back together. This was easier said than done.

To this end, she had recruited Gibbs' team. They were suffering the brunt of their boss' displeasure and were desperate for things to go back to normal. So far, the only idea they had come up with was for the favorite to talk to him, something Abby didn't want to do.

"He won't listen to me," she pointed out.

"But you're the favorite, Abs. Use that position," Tony argued back.

"What should I say to him? 'Hello, my silver-haired fox. I know something's going on and you need to tell me about it?'"

"See! Like that."

"I do not think so," Ziva interrupted. "Gibbs is a man of few words. He will not open up to us."

"Maybe we should talk to the Director?" McGee interjected.

"Keep up, McSlow. Obviously he did something to her or she wouldn't have kicked him out in the first place," Tony answered.

"But she can tell us _what_ he did, and perhaps tell us what he needs to do to get back in her good books," McGee countered.

"She'll open up more readily than _el jefe_," Abby agreed.

"You should ask her, _Zee-vah_," Tony told his partner.

"Why me?!"

"Because you two are good friends."

"I am not having that discussion with her."

"What about asking Lily?" McGee inquired.

He was met with two glares and a squeal from Abby. "Oh, the twin! I'd love to meet her properly! I bet she's just like Jenny! She could help us!"

"No," Tony warned her. "We are not getting Lily involved in this."

"Why not?" the Goth pouted.

"Because she tied me to a bed?"

Somehow the whole of NCIS had heard about this. At first, he had assumed it was Lily's fault, but Ziva had owed up to it. She claimed that she could not resist.

"She had a good reason," Abby stated.

"Oh, because she wanted to shoot her father? And she failed to mention her engagement."

"We have coped without Lily before," Ziva added. "We can cope without her again."

"She is the best person to get this sorted out," McGee observed. "Gibbs is scared of her and Jenny listens to her."

"Maybe it would be easier to force them in an elevator and trap them together," Abby mused. "They'd be forced to make up then."

* * *

Gibbs watched warily as the redhead made her way down the stairs and across the squad room, coming to a halt in front of his desk. She held a file in one hand, but didn't seem to have any coffee. He sincerely hoped that she'd had her caffeine fix recently.

"Agent Gibbs," she greeted him coolly.

He merely stared at her.

"As you provided the evidence for us to go after him, I thought you might like to watch Nathan Fuller's arrest."

He gave her a look that clearly said he wasn't interested.

"On the big screen?" she tried. "In color? With nice surround sound?"

He took a sip of his coffee and stayed in his seat.

"Agent Gibbs, you can either come to MTAC voluntarily and watch the arrest, or I'll call the SECNAV and have him make it an order."

He considered his options. He had wanted to be in on the arrest, but Jenny had vetoed it. This way he would still feel as though he was in the loop. She was quite capable of carrying out her threat, but they both knew she didn't need to.

He stood up, coffee cup still in hand. "Lead on, Macduff."


	3. Time Is Running Out

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Just to clear up something, "Lead on MacDuff" is a saying my father uses all the time to mean "Lead the way". I probably should have explained it better in the previous chapter. Kudos to ME Wofford for knowing the next part of the quote!_

Chapter 3: Time is Running Out

Tony DiNozzo flicked another staple in Ziva's direction, and tried his best to look innocent. Normally he was a master at this, but his crazy Mossad partner was somehow able to see through this particular mask.

He was supposed to be doing paperwork, but his heart wasn't in it and the boss wasn't around. He had heard a rumor about the Fuller arrest taking place and suspected Gibbs was in MTAC. Everyone knew that Jenny had barred him from getting further involved; the walls of her office were not thick enough to stop Gibbs' voice pounding through.

His only other option, apart from harassing Ziva, was to figure out a way to get his boss and his boss' boss back together. Part of him didn't care about the intricacies of their relationship, while another part wanted to grab a camera and try to get some interesting snaps of them. And he was also aware that a happy Gibbs was a good Gibbs.

Regrettably, he had come up with the same solution as McGee. He didn't want to get Lily involved, but she was their best hope.

He had yet to forgive her for what she had done to him. She had toyed with his feelings before betraying him. He knew why she hadn't tried to contact him since their return: she was in a serious mess from committing patricide. But he was certain that the big bad CIA wolf would recover, the sooner the better.

He still liked her on one level; his attraction to her hadn't changed. On the other hand, he was more aware of how she played with people, how she failed to see people as real human beings with feelings, not pawns in a game.

Unlike Gibbs, he accepted apologies. He could only hope that she would offer him one.

"I swear if you do that once more DiNozzo…" Ziva's voice roused him from his thoughts.

"Do what?" he asked, his innocent face on.

"Those staples stick in my hair!"

"I'm letting you discover how best to remove them."

Over at his own desk, McGee snorted.

"Keep your head down, Probie."

"This is coming from someone who hasn't done a single bit of work today," McGee replied.

"I am working," Ziva pointed out.

"On a paperclip chain," he countered. "Not the paperwork you should be working on."

"But I am working. Unlike someone else who is about to be murdered!" She glared at Tony for emphasis.

Tony shrugged it off. He was completely used to constant death threats. "I'm improving my trajectory," he tried.

"I will show you how accurate my knife throwing is if you do not desist soon."

McGee chuckled, hitting Print on his latest case file and standing up to collect it.

"Stay out of this, McGiggle," Tony warned.

"She's got a good point," McGee answered. "Ziva could kill you any day of the week, and what's the best you can come up with? Harassing her. Not your best idea."

Tony pulled a face, but privately conceded the point. He should be bowing down in front of his partner, not incurring her wrath. At some point, she would snap…

McGee placed his file onto Gibbs' desk. "If I were you two, I'd do some work before the boss returns and blows up again."

* * *

The doors to Autopsy swished open as the Goth ran through them.

Although Ducky thought 'toddled' was a better word, due to the completely unsuitable platform boots she insisted on wearing.

Her jet-black hair had been pulled into her usual pigtails, and her lab coat swirled around her legs, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

Ducky knew that the young woman was upset about the rift between Jethro and Jennifer. He himself was less upset, more curious. New arrivals in a family always led to more pressure, but Jennifer seemed to have overreacted to something. If he had to make a guess, he suspected Jethro might have put his foot in it somewhere. On the other hand, he knew that Jethro was trying to make their relationship a success. He could only hope that they would resume talking soon. He was happy to help either of them if they came to him, but neither had.

So far, anyway.

He felt it was only a matter of time before Jethro opened up to him, but he was not going to rush the other man. The first step to dealing with a problem was admitting that one existed.

Meanwhile, the entire agency was aware of a problem, and was coming up with increasingly outlandish ways to solve it. Only yesterday, he had overheard Agent Wofford suggesting Gibbs should retire again and let the agency recover.

Ducky felt that was a bit extreme. Jennifer and Jethro were two very stubborn individuals, who needed to realize that they worked better together than apart, even if it involved making sacrifices for the other.

Most of all, he was worried about the two children caught in the middle. Jennifer seemed to be trying to protect them, but from what? Jethro would never harm them in any way, so why had she told him to stay away?

He could only hope that they would resolve the problem as soon as possible.

"Ducky!" Abby yelled, overexcited and high on caffeine. Nothing new there.

"Abigail," he replied, much calmer. "How are you today, my dear?"

"Wonderful," she told him, spinning around on the spot to emphasize her point. "Except for the whole Gibbs and Jenny thing."

Abby was not taking the break-up well. Ducky sighed softly. "Do you have anything for me?"

"Tox results. The Petty Officer's blood alcohol level was .23. I'm surprised he could even stand up."

"He was an alcoholic, or so his liver said. He would have been dead within weeks if he hadn't walked in front of that lorry."

"Huh?"

"Oh, I do apologize. I meant 'truck'."

Abby shook her head slightly. "English phrases confuse me."

"Actually, the word 'truck' comes from the Greek '_truchos_' meaning 'wheel'. I personally feel that lorry is the better term, as it only applies to medium and large vehicles."

"We've got bigger problems than etymology, Ducky."

He moved to her side and placed a hand on her arm. "If we give them time, they'll work it out."

"Not that! Someone's trying to hijack our computer system."

Ducky pondered this for a moment. "Have you told the Director?"

"Yes, but the attacks aren't very good. It's an amateur, and we get lots of strange people trying to access our servers."

"What's so different about this one?"

"He's persistent. Seriously persistent. Most hackers give up after a few hours, but this guy's been trying for months."

"Can you follow him?" Ducky was not sure of the correct phrasing, but knew the Goth would understand.

"That's just it! I can't trace him. It's getting really annoying."

"Well, my dear," he soothed. "I'm sure he'll make a mistake soon."

* * *

Timothy McGee glanced around at his co-workers again.

Ziva was still making her paperclip chain, claiming she needed to keep her hands busy. Tony had finally stopped throwing staples, but only because he had run out. He had tried to instigate a rubber band war, which had failed after Ziva had thrown her penknife into the partition behind Tony's head, missing his ear by millimeters.

The result was Tony attempted to do his work for five minutes, until he became distracted again.

Now he was making a collection of paper airplanes. McGee suspected they would all be thrown at once, and hoped it would not be in his direction.

Although he was the only person to have completed their paperwork. Their latest case hadn't been hard to write up, but the others were not focusing. He had nothing left to do.

Except to continue the trace on the mysterious hacker.

Abby had told him about it, and he was spending his spare time working on ideas. Whomever it was had yet to get anywhere, and probably wouldn't for a while. They were approaching the problem in the wrong manner.

It didn't mean that it was not a problem. By sheer dumb luck they could stumble in, or they could hire someone with better skills.

Not to mention how irritating it was.

McGee looked up as Abby and Ducky entered the squad room. "Hey," he greeted them.

"Timmy!" Abby squealed, just before she gave him a bone-crushing hug.

"Erm, Abigail? I think Timothy might need to breathe," Ducky suggested kindly.

She let go of him instantly and ruffled his hair instead.

"What's up, Doc?" Tony asked, before laughing at his own joke.

A glare from Ziva made the laugh turn into a coughing fit.

"We've had an idea about getting Gibbs and Jenny back together," Abby announced, bouncing up and down in glee.

"Why do I not want to hear this?" McGee muttered quietly. Abby's ideas were normally completely crazy.

Luckily she didn't hear him. "We're going to lock them in MTAC together. At night, when there's no one else in there. They'll _have_ to talk to each other then."

"There will be blood on the carpet," Ziva warned. "Jenny will kill him if they are stuck in a confined space."

"The bossman can get her to open up if she can't escape," Abby argued. "I think three hours should do the trick."

Without warning, an alarm started blaring. Everyone immediately stood up, except McGee who began to tap away at his keyboard.

"What is that?" Ducky inquired, looking as calm as ever.

"Abby," McGee groaned. "You locked everyone in MTAC."

"I didn't do anything! It was just an idea. Maybe Gibbs could hear me psychically and he locked himself in," she offered.

"MTAC's been locked down?" Tony checked. "Why?"

"It looks like someone did it from inside," McGee continued, staring at his screen. "I know it's possible; it's a precaution in case of emergencies."

"What's going on?" Abby started to worry.

A single extremely muffled shot made everyone jump.

"This is not good," Tony remarked, unnecessarily.


	4. Get the Party Started

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! I had a horrible five minutes where I feared I would have to go over to the public library, but I think my Internet will hold. (crosses fingers). And I was tempted to leave you all on this very minor cliffhanger, but I came to my senses and realised it would be better to leave you on the next chapter._

Chapter 4: Get the Party Started

Ziva David was frustrated.

It had become clear that both Jenny and Gibbs were inside the sealed MTAC. The Israeli longed for action, but knew she could not get to help them, even if they needed it.

Most people had refused to leave the squad room, arguing that the doors were sealed so no one could get out. It did not matter that a shot had been fired; nothing could get through the doors, short of a missile. And it would be rather hard for someone to smuggle a missile into MTAC.

Although something was obviously going on.

As a show of solidarity, most agents had filed into the squad room. Someone somewhere had kept their head and was trying to do a head count, in an attempt to work out who exactly was missing. It was taking more time than Ziva liked. Anyone found missing had to be chased up, and a lot of people had been out of the building anyway. One agent had been dispatched to the local coffee shops to see who was there, while a few others were making frantic calls to Dispatch to work out who was in the field.

Agents were sharing chairs, computers, coffee mugs and desks, _everything_ that they could to help out. Tony had tried to work out who was in charge. The Director was in MTAC, and her usual second-in-command, Gibbs, was with her. Agent Wofford, who was normally next in line, had just got on a plane to Los Angeles for a conference.

Someone had either timed this incredibly well, or had gotten lucky. Ziva hoped it was luck, because otherwise they were in serious trouble.

The elevator dinged, announcing the arrival of the person they had decided to turn to.

Fornell.

The FBI agent strolled in, glancing round at the huge number of agents busily working. He seemed… impressed.

"I hate to admit it," he told Gibbs' team. "But if this were the Hoover building, there wouldn't be an agent around for miles."

"And yet you get more funding," Tony retorted.

"First things first, we should clear this floor as much as possible. I don't want those doors opening and everyone getting sprayed with bullets."

"You've already been briefed?"

Fornell sighed, sitting down in Gibbs' chair. "All I've been told is that MTAC is locked down and NCIS doesn't have a clear leader right now."

"Jenny is in there," Ziva spoke up. "And Gibbs. We are not sure how many others."

"We're working on that," McGee added.

Fornell turned to Ducky, who, like Abby, had refused to leave. "Not bad," he admitted.

"Everyone is pulling together," Ducky smiled.

"Anything else I need to know?"

"We heard a shot being fired," Ziva offered. "Single round, probably from a handgun."

"I've alerted Bethesda and the EMTs are outside as we speak," Ducky pointed out. "We don't know if someone is injured or dead, but we're prepared for when those doors open."

"Is there any way we can get through those doors?" Fornell inquired.

"Not without alerting them," McGee answered. "If we knew the code, we might be able to launch an assault."

"Who knows the code?"

"The Director," they all replied.

Fornell groaned. "So she could open the doors and our bad guys come out shooting."

"We do not know how many people are in there," Ziva pointed out. "But it is doubtful that one person would be working alone. Jenny would not give up the code."

"We don't know what's going on in there," the FBI agent countered. "We don't know what they want. We need to work out who's in there and make contact."

* * *

Cynthia watched as her boss continued to apply pressure to Agent Gibbs' abdomen. Blood was seeping through her fingers and staining her shirt, but she did not seem to care.

Robert Gilman, if that was his real name, continued to control the room. The gun was still pointed at Jenny's head, although she seemed unaware of this.

The techs and herself had been ordered to remain where they were for the time being. Cynthia wanted to assist Jenny, but was afraid of being shot. For now, she continued to watch everything and comfort some of the others.

Gilman had remained completely calm. His gun had yet to waver, his composure was resolute, and his demand remained the same.

Meanwhile, Jenny had been kneeling on the floor for the last half an hour, trying to stop Gibbs from bleeding to death.

Gibbs was barely conscious, but clearly fighting. Cynthia was worried about him. Even though he tended to barge right past her and lock horns with the Director, he was a nice man. He bought her coffee when he knew she'd had a long day, although he never said anything. She had found her favorite flowers on her desk on her previous birthday, Jenny having bought her a new handbag.

While she did not know why the Director and Gibbs were currently arguing like no tomorrow, she could tell how much Jenny cared for him.

One of the female techs tried not to start sobbing again, and Cynthia slipped her arm around her. "It's going to be okay," she whispered, not entirely believing it herself.

Gilman continued to watch the Director.

Gibbs' eyes began to close…

"Jethro," Jenny called. "Open your eyes. Stay awake and talk to me."

Cynthia watched as he tried to do as he was told.

"That's an order, Agent Gibbs," Jenny continued, a small note of panic in her voice. "I haven't given you permission to die yet."

His eyes opened fully and he attempted to glare at her.

"That's better," she soothed. "I'm going to get you to a hospital and kick some butt."

A faint grin appeared on his face for a fraction of a second, but it lifted both Jenny and Cynthia's hopes.

"You are not going anywhere until you open the seals," Gilman told the redhead, coming closer. "No one is leaving until I can make a few calls."

"I've already told you," she replied. "Put down the gun and we can talk. Continue to wave it around, and I'm going to leave everything sealed."

"I doubt it," he hissed. "If you do not open the seals, I will kill everyone else."

* * *

Tony DiNozzo placed the phone back into its cradle, and resisted his desire to shoot something.

"Leigh Peterson is home with the flu," he announced to the others.

Ducky picked up his marker pen and crossed Peterson's name from the list on the whiteboard. There were only fourteen names left, people who had yet to be accounted for.

Everyone was trying to help. Ziva had spent a lot of time on the phone to dispatch, working out who was out of the building. McGee had managed to hack into the system to find out who was away at conferences and training sessions. Palmer had located a list of every agent and support staff that worked in the building, and he and Abby had been scurrying around ticking names off. Tony himself had been calling everyone who couldn't be found any other way, seeing if they were home.

Ducky and Fornell had retrieved the whiteboard from Autopsy. Ducky had written the names of the fifty people who hadn't been found quickly on it, crossing them off when someone was found. It was strangely satisfying to know that someone else was safe.

Fornell had managed to call Agent Wofford, now Acting Director again, and tell her what was going on. She had told him she planned to get on the next flight back, but wouldn't be available for a while.

Fornell had also been in touch with the FBI, who were worried about a Director taken hostage. Jenny knew things – top-secret files, information, codes – that could cause problems if she revealed them. The higher-ups were desperate for a speedy resolution.

"Okay people." The FBI agent drew everyone together. He seemed to have taken charge for the moment, being the most experienced agent present. "Let's run over what we know."

"Thirteen hostages, assuming the other person is the hostage taker," McGee started.

"We don't know how many gunmen there are, what they're armed with, or who, if anyone, they've shot," Tony continued.

"The Director is in there, as is Gibbs and Cynthia," Ziva added. "I seriously doubt any of them have taken hostages."

"Unless Gibbs finally decided to shoot the Director," Tony pointed out.

"It is more likely that she would shoot him," she shot back.

"Neither of them would lock the doors with other people in there," Ducky interrupted, before a full-scale argument could break out.

"Which leaves us with ten other hostages, all technicians, assuming that one of them has the gun," Ziva finished, glaring at her partner.

"We really should open up a dialogue with whoever is in there," Ducky implored. "It's been three hours and we don't know what's going on. Someone could be bleeding to death in there."

The elevator dinged, and everyone automatically looked over at the doors. A redhead stepped out, looking very harried, and rapidly made her way over to the small group.

"Lily," Tony grinned. "Are we glad to see you right now."


	5. Negotiations

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! This is the last chapter for a week - I am going away and will not have any Internet access. The tension should really start building from here. Hope you don't mind the minor cliffhanger at the end too much..._

Chapter 5: Negotiations

Timothy McGee observed the CIA agent as closely as he could.

She looked exhausted, like she hadn't slept for days. She was sipping her coffee slowly, and seemed remarkably calm considering the situation. Interestingly enough, she was wearing the same outfit that the Director had been wearing earlier: a black skirt that came almost level with her black boots, and a cream shirt.

Some things never changed.

Lily had listened to Tony's briefing in silence, although he could see her mind whirring. He hoped she was coming up with a plan.

Fornell had gone silent when he had first set eyes on her, although McGee could also see him thinking. He was trying to stare at her without being caught, and probably thought he was getting away with it. McGee doubted this was the case; Lily might look tired but she was sharp.

How sharp was she today? The last time he had seen her, she had been in pieces after killing her father. Had she recovered? The simple fact she had shown up without a call indicated that she felt ready, but it didn't mean she was up to the job. He could see the tension in her shoulders.

Tony finally stopped talking, and silence spread over the squad room. It took McGee a moment to realize that everyone was watching Lily. No one had seen her before; none of them knew Jenny had a twin. And certainly none of them knew just how alike they were.

Lily let the silence build up for a few minutes.

"I need a free hand in this," she told them. "Whatever I say goes."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Tony replied. "We're kinda leaderless now anyway."

She allowed the ghost of a smile to cross her lips, before returning to business. "I need to make a phone call."

Tony waved a hand in the direction of Gibbs' desk.

This time, the redhead smirked. "LJ won't like this," she commented, walking over to the desk and taking his chair. She lifted the receiver, dialed a number from memory and put it on speaker.

The phone rang, seemingly endlessly, but in reality about ten times before someone answered it.

"Robert Gilman," Lily stated. "Good afternoon."

The sound of heavy breathing greeted them for a moment. "Director Shepard?" came the reply.

"Not bad," she admitted. "I thought it would take you longer to recognize the voice."

"This is a recording," he answered. "Or a trick."

McGee was more surprised that she knew what was going on. How did she know it was Gilman? _They_ didn't know it was Gilman. Then again, this was Lily, and Lily knew everything.

"I'm Director Shepard, and you currently have my sister Lily."

"Even if you are telling the truth, what difference does it make?"

"Lil does not know the codes to reopen anything. That's what you want, isn't it? To send messages? She does not know the codes because I do not trust her with the codes."

* * *

Robert Gilman stared at the redhead on the floor. She was still trying to stop Gibbs from bleeding to death.

Was this a trap? Quite possibly. On the other hand, he needed to unseal everything and only the Director knew how to do so.

Twins. He was dealing with twins.

For now, the Director – he was now quite sure it was Jenny on the phone – had the upper hand. But he still had a few cards, namely her sister and a wounded agent. He wasn't out of the game yet.

* * *

Ziva David stared at Lily. She was playing a dangerous game, and the Israeli was starting to see where she was taking it. This could backfire horribly.

Or it might not.

If anyone could pull this off, it was Lily. After all, she had played much more complicated stunts before. If she could get the doors open, they could storm MTAC. Presumably Lily did not know the codes herself, or they could enter now.

"I'm going to offer you a deal," Lily continued. "It's more than you deserve, given the circumstances, but I'm sure we can reach an agreement."

"You tell me the code to unseal this place, or I'll shoot your sister."

Lily laughed. "You would be doing me a favor if you did. She's a pain in the butt. I'm offering a swap. Lil and I trade places, and you let Agent Gibbs leave so he can receive medical treatment."

Gibbs had been shot? Hang on, how did Lily know who had been shot? What else did she know that they did not?

* * *

Robert Gilman felt the faint stirrings of panic in his stomach. How did she know who he had shot? Was there a camera in the room? There couldn't be; he had stayed late one night and checked everywhere.

There had only been one phone call, and he had taken the ringing cell phone from the redhead. She had not made any move to answer it, letting him unclip it from her belt. Her head had bowed briefly, a sign she had hoped he had forgotten about it.

He was certain that no outgoing calls had been made. Even he had not called anyone. The room was sealed; no video conferences could take place.

How could she see into the room?

Perhaps the techs had done something. Earlier, he had ordered them to throw their cell phones into the middle of the floor, preventing them from calling for help. The monitors were all still dark. Could they have sent a transmission? Was someone watching him now?

* * *

Ducky was concerned for his friend. Jethro would need medical attention as soon as possible. Even if his injury was not life threatening, too much blood loss and he would go into shock.

Although it was good Lily was trying to get Jethro released, it was also not the smartest idea. However she knew what had happened, she had allowed the gunman to know that she knew.

The most important thing was for the gunman, Robert, to believe he was in control. If he felt he was losing his grip of the situation, he could easily kill everyone in MTAC. He had to be dealt with delicately.

Lily didn't seem to be aware of this. She had already told him that he had the wrong sister, and was now talking about things she shouldn't know about.

He suspected she hadn't dealt with a hostage situation before. At least not by negotiation. She might have solved one with bullets, but this was a different ball game. Robert Gilman had to be under the impression that he was in control at all times.

"How do you know of this?" Gilman demanded.

"Does it matter?" Lily queried. "What matters is that my sister is trying to give First Aid without any suitable equipment. What matters is that if Agent Gibbs doesn't make it to a hospital soon, they'll be no point in sending him to Bethesda."

"Tell me how you know!"

The redhead ignored his order. "Nice SIG. A P228? I switched to a 229 last year."

* * *

Now he really felt out of his depth. She could see his gun well enough to identify it? She could see the redhead on the floor, her fingers and shirt stained with blood but refusing to give up? Whispering words of encouragement to him? Could she even hear those words?

She was bluffing. She had to be bluffing.

He moved over to the redhead sitting on the floor. Cold green eyes turned to look into his own. This woman would kill him without a second thought.

"Stand up," he ordered her.

She ignored him, whispering something to the injured agent. He caught her words.

"Does he really think I'm docile?"

Gibbs grinned slightly, clearly agreeing with her.

Gilman punched her in the eye.

The redhead fell back a little, letting one of her hands steady herself against the floor. She pushed herself back up, not letting a sound escape her lips, and continued to apply pressure to Gibbs' wound.

Gilman was impressed. A very stubborn redhead indeed.

He spoke into the phone again. "If you do not tell me how you know, I will kill your sister."

* * *

Tony watched as Lily laughed again. She seemed genuinely amused by Gilman threatening her sister's life.

This didn't tally with Lily. Lily was more likely to threaten him back, or offer to send a missile through the MTAC doors.

Was this really Lily? Could it be Jenny? Jenny wasn't stupid enough to send herself into a hostage situation. Then again, Jenny and Lily were incredibly alike, and something had been off with the Director recently.

He longed for his boss to appear. Gibbs could tell them apart. Gibbs would know what was going on. The boss would argue with his boss (if it was his boss), or threaten Lily (if it was Lily).

"You won't kill my sister," Lily told him, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye. "The deal still stands: let us swap over and Agent Gibbs come out for medical treatment."

Silence filled the squad room for what felt like hours.

"You have a deal. Come unarmed and don't try any funny business."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Lily answered, deadpan.


	6. Horror Movie Extra

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen. I'm back! And so are the updates!_

Chapter 6: Horror Movie Extra

Ducky trailed behind everyone else as they made their way up the stairs, waiting for the swap.

He was pleased that a release had been negotiated, one which would take both Jennifer and Jethro out of harm's way. Jethro could receive the medical treatment he required, while the Director would be safe.

Conversely, he wished the CIA agent could have held out for the release of more hostages. Perhaps she hoped to negotiate further once she was inside?

Moreover, he was certainly not happy for her to casually stroll into danger, no matter how many times she had done it before. This was different.

Her negotiation skills left something to be desired. She had not asked Robert Gilman what he wanted, or if everyone was okay, or if anything was needed. No rapport had been built; if anything, Lily had deliberately stressed him and put him under undue pressure.

She had also not bothered with a psychological profile. Much as Ducky wanted to stay on the scene and help out, he knew he would be better going with Jethro, and it sounded like his friend needed a hospital.

During the telephone call, Ducky had made a few notes, and had passed them onto Abby. Some things were obvious: the hostage taker was calm and cold, he seemed to know what he was doing, and he did not want to end this quickly. Many more things needed to be established.

Ducky was not normally irritated, but he felt that a chance had been missed to get in touch with Gilman as soon as possible. Someone needed to stay on the phone with him, talking things over and controlling the situation.

The agents took up positions around the door. "Should we storm the place?" Tony asked.

"He'll be expecting that," Lily answered, glancing round. "Agent McGee."

"Yes ma'am?" the young man replied.

"Someone needs to unlock the door from my office. I'm sure you can find the program. The code is 10141066."

McGee nodded and disappeared.

"Why can we not use the code to surprise them?" Ziva queried, looking ready for battle.

"Because it sets off an alarm in there before it unlocks the doors," Lily sighed. "I don't know whose smart idea _that_ was, but the only way get in silently is to unlock the doors from the inside."

"Can you do that?"

Lily tilted her head to one side, considering. "The two codes are different, but I hope I can. Tell Jenny to open negotiations, stall for time, and give me a chance."

Ziva nodded to show that she understood, before everyone turned back to the doors.

It took a few minutes, but the left door suddenly opened a crack. "Don't shoot," came a yell. "Or I'll come back and haunt you."

Ducky guessed Jennifer was pretending to be her sister. It was a very Lily-esque statement.

The door opened the rest of the way. Jennifer was supporting Jethro, who looked barely conscious. She was covered in blood and looked just as exhausted as Lily was. Behind them, in the center of the room, Robert Gilman stood with a gun to Cynthia's head.

He didn't need to say anything; his intent was clear.

Lily held up her hands to show they were empty, and stepped forward slightly. Jennifer moved closer to the door, dragging Jethro with her. They continued their dance until they had swapped places.

Lily gave a ghost of a smile. "Wish me luck," she said, and closed the door.

Jennifer handed Jethro over to the waiting EMTs, before racing towards her office to change the codes. Lily couldn't help Robert Gilman now, even if she wanted to.

Ducky shifted closer to one of the EMTs. "I'm coming with you," he told him.

* * *

The redhead kept her cool as she walked further into MTAC. She had placed her life in her sister's hands, whether she liked to admit it or not.

She watched as Gilman lowered the gun from Cynthia's head. Cynthia moved back towards the techs, still sitting at the edge of the room in front of their terminals. She made her way over there, only to be stopped as Gilman raised the gun again.

"Stay where you are; arms up and spread your legs."

Nodding slightly in agreement, she stopped and obeyed. Aggravating this man further was not in her best interests right now.

He came closer and patted her down carefully, taking his time. She could hear his rasping breath close to her ear.

Finally, it was over and he moved back to the center of the room, waiting to see what she would do next.

The redhead walked evenly over to the techs. "Is everyone okay?" she asked.

They all nodded, although they looked as scared as she felt.

Cynthia spoke up. "He wants the access codes."

No surprise there then. Her sister would have refused, even at the cost of her own life. With luck, she was busy changing the codes now.

"You have a plan?" Cynthia's voice was a lot lower.

"You could say that," she replied.

The redhead made her way over to the chairs, specifically the one where her sister had sat at the beginning of the day. She sat down slowly, reaching under the seat and withdrawing a coffee cup. It would be cold now, but cold caffeine was better than no caffeine.

"Unseal everything," Gilman demanded.

She quirked an eyebrow. "Not going to happen."

"I told _her _that I would start killing everyone else unless this place is unsealed."

"I didn't say I wouldn't, I said I can't."

He smirked. "You're the Director of NCIS; you can unseal this room."

She met his smirk with one of her own. "I'm a CIA agent. My name's Lily Shepard, and I don't know the codes."

* * *

Tony DiNozzo watched as the redhead lowered herself into Gibbs' chair, once again glad that the boss was not present. He didn't even like it when Abby sat in his chair, let alone one of the Shepard sisters.

Fornell rushed over and gave her a coffee, which she took gratefully. She flashed him a smile, before proceeding to take a huge gulp of the warm liquid.

Unfortunately, Tony was now worrying about Lily. She had put herself in danger to protect her sister, choosing to enter a hostage situation. Although he did wonder if she had managed to smuggle a weapon in there. He wouldn't put it past her.

Her mindset was strange. He already knew that she'd fallen to pieces after killing her father. Did she feel this was her absolution? Did she truly not care whether she lived or died? What was going on inside her head?

Jenny leant back in the chair and sighed. "How's Gibbs?" was her first question.

Ziva chose to answer her. "He is on his way to Bethesda. Ducky is with him and will give us updates."

The Director nodded, before trying to scratch her forehead with the back of her hand. She was still covered in blood – Gibbs' blood – having not taken the time to wash it off. Tony wondered if she even recognized it was there. Her originally cream shirt was stained horribly, and was probably going have to be thrown away. Her hands were sticky, and her face already had streaks of blood on it where she had wiped away sweat. Her eye was starting to blacken, as though someone had hit it. She was going to have a nice big black eye in a few hours, one impossible to hide behind make-up.

All in all, she looked like something out of a horror movie.

Somehow, Jenny had managed to shrug most of the last few hours off, as proven by her rapid response to change the codes. Lily could negotiate for releases, but not much else.

"I know this must be hard…" Fornell started.

"Can it," Jenny ordered. "I don't need the sweet-talk right now."

Tony and Ziva both tried, but failed, to hide their smirks. Gibbs would have loved to hear this.

"He wants the codes to unseal MTAC," the redhead told them. "I'm guessing he wants to place a few calls out, something that's not going to happen if I can help it."

"Calls about what?" McGee queried.

"Let's just say that the official policy will be to sacrifice the hostages rather than let him call anyone."

"You'd do that?" McGee looked shocked.

"It won't be my policy," Jenny retorted, looking grim. "The minute the higher-ups know I'm out, we'll get the order. It's not going to stop me negotiating."

"Anything else we need to know?" Fornell asked.

"He's calm, prepared, clearly had a plan when he took over. Cynthia locked everything down; I don't think he was expecting her to be so on the ball. He struck when we were distracted, must have smuggled the gun in a while back. Oh, and if it helps, I left Lil a cup of very cold coffee under her seat. Hopefully she won't become too caffeine deprived."

"Lily said to stall for time," Ziva informed her. "It sounded like she had a plan."

"I know what it is," Jenny grimaced. "She's going to get him to release everyone, before refusing to help. That way he only kills one hostage."


	7. The Arrival of Charlie

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen!_

Chapter 7: The Arrival of Charlie

The elevator doors dinged open yet again, and Ziva David watched as Charlie stepped out.

The CIA agent looked as handsome as ever, although his eyes were guarded. Her former running partner and Lily's current work partner was carrying a black rucksack. He hurried over to the others.

Ziva watched as his gaze raked over Jenny and knew what he must be thinking. His partner had managed to talk herself into becoming a hostage, while Jenny was covered in now dry blood. Lily was somewhere he could not help her, even if he was urgently needed. He could no longer watch his partner's back.

Jenny appeared to be over the worst of her ordeal, but the Israeli had noticed the subtle shaking of her hands and the way her eyes were darting about everywhere. The redhead was definitely nervous and off kilter. She seemed to be fighting the urge to run out and not come back.

Charlie sidled up to her and held the rucksack out. She took it from his hand without even looking at him.

"Found it in the trunk of Lily's car," he told her. "Heard about what happened."

Jenny scrunched up her forehead. "How?"

"She taught me well."

The redhead stared at him, her expression vacant.

"And my boss gave me a phone call that almost deafened me. I swear Arbourne forgets he's not a SEAL anymore."

"I know an ex-marine who's like that."

"Don't let Arbourne hear you say that," he warned. "I can hear him now. '_There's no such thing as an ex-marine_.'"

"Are all ex-military guys the same?" Jenny wondered aloud. "Maybe they clone them or something."

Charlie stared at her for a few seconds. "You might want to get changed," he offered finally. "I can burn your shirt."

She shook her head, lost in thought. "The shirt stays." She handed him the bag back, without looking at him again. "But I'll go and wash my hands." She stared at them, dried blood coating every inch.

Charlie appeared to be on the verge of slapping her. "Don't look at them," he muttered. "Wash them, and your face too. You've got a few streaks on there."

Jenny was surprised at that. "I have?"

He took her arms gently and steered her towards the bathrooms. "Wash. Relax. If I see you back out here in the next ten minutes…"

"You'll do what?" She didn't move.

"I'll set Loius on you."

The redhead walked towards the bathrooms. Clearly, she knew who Loius was.

"Who is Loius?" Tony inquired.

"Loius Arbourne, my boss," Charlie grinned. "You think Gibbs is bad?"

"Loius?" McGee considered it. "You mean 'Louis'."

Charlie's grin widened. "I mean 'Loius'. His mother was dyslexic. Lily's the only one who dares to wind him up over it."

"I bet he loves that." Tony sounded amused. Ziva agreed; it sounded very much like Lily.

"Tell me about it," Charlie chuckled. "Last time she did that, I could hear him chewing her out from the ground floor. Some Probie hit the fire alarm in panic. Arbourne continued his tirade during the evacuation and outside. You know what she said to him when he finished? 'Sorry, I was thinking about what to cook for dinner. Could you repeat that?'"

* * *

Cynthia watched as Gilman struggled to stay in control of his frustration.

Jenny and Lily had played a smart game. They had forced him to give up the more valuable asset, leaving him little to bargain with. On top of that, Agent Gibbs was now able to receive medical treatment, something he had clearly needed urgently if the blood on the carpet was any suggestion.

Regrettably, their game had angered Gilman. They were still hostages, and needed some food and water soon. The techs normally kept a small supply under their workstations. They were not supposed to, but it was useful if an important call came through when they were about to go on a break. The Director had never discouraged it.

Lily was still sipping her coffee, which had to be very cold by now.

Cynthia had known about Jenny's sister, but hadn't been aware that they were identical twins. Somehow they were dressed the same, although Jenny's shirt was currently ruined. Cynthia wondered if they had ever swapped places before, and concluded that they probably had. She was not annoyed, but secretly pleased. Hopefully Jenny had someone else to confide in.

She was also able to venture a guess as to why Jenny always received a bouquet of lilies on her birthday. Lily and lilies. Not much of a leap there.

Lily seemed amazingly calm. None of the threats Gilman had made to her appeared to have penetrated. The CIA agent did not seem to mind if everyone was killed, although Cynthia doubted this was the case.

Or rather, she hoped it was not the case. She wanted to get out alive.

"I swear I will kill someone if you do not unseal this room," Gilman repeated coldly.

"For the last time," Lily answered. "Jenny will have changed the codes by now, so even if I did know how to, I cannot unseal this room."

"Why did you come in here on such a futile mission?"

"Because it's my job?" Lily suggested. "Because I don't like leaving innocent people to die if I can help it? Because I honestly don't care if you put a bullet in my head? What answer would you prefer?"

His response was to hit her in the same place he had previously hit Jenny, in her right eye. Like Jenny, Lily did not react to it.

"Is that really the worst you can do?" she taunted.

Gilman stared at her briefly, obviously not expecting anyone to answer him back. "I wonder what I can trade for you," he finally spoke up. "Surely your sister would not want to see you dead."

Lily smiled, a sad smile. "My sister wouldn't care. She would act for the greater good, and right now that consists of not letting you make a call."

* * *

Ziva David followed her friend into the bathroom. The redhead had left the squad room five minutes ago, and Charlie was starting to panic that she would emerge early.

Quite why Jenny needed to spend at least ten minutes in the bathroom was beyond Ziva. She was aware that most women liked to take their time and sometimes gossip with their friends, but Jenny only needed to wash her hands. They might be covered in blood, but it should not take ten minutes.

Jenny might need some time alone to recover from what had happened though, the Israeli conceded. She had been in a highly stressful situation, with Gibbs' life in her hands. She seemed in shock.

The sight that greeted her as she opened the door was unnerving. The bathroom was empty, as she had expected, save for the redhead. Jenny stood at the nearest sink, fresh tears on her face. Her hands were under a flow of water, and they were still shaking.

Ziva moved to her side, not saying a word. Instead, she placed her own hands on her friend's shoulders. Jenny visibly pulled herself back together and managed a weak smile.

"Shouldn't you be in the squad room?" the redhead asked.

"You are more important right now," Ziva replied.

She stayed where she was as Jenny finished washing her hands, before using the mirror to help her wipe the streaks of blood from her face. "I haven't looked this bad in years," the redhead commented.

Ziva laughed. "I cannot imagine you ever looking like this before," she admitted.

The redhead smiled. "When we had just turned teenagers, my sister thought it would be extremely amusing to throw a tub of red paint over my head as I walked down our hallway. Unfortunately, she'd picked some weird type of paint that refused to come out of either the floor or me. When my father came home…" She tailed off.

Ziva understood why. Her sister had murdered her father in front of Jenny, and now was not the best time to be dwelling on it. She decided to change the topic. "You knew this was coming."

Jenny looked up, trying to follow. "Ah, yes, I knew he was going to take over MTAC. Both of us did. But knowing about it is not the same as being able to stop it. You must have learnt that by now." She turned the tap off and started to dry her hands on a paper towel.

"Are you worried about Gibbs?"

The redhead considered this for a moment. "Objectively, I know my worry or lack of it is not going to change a damn thing. In reality, I'm worried. I'd like nothing better than to get in my car, race to Bethesda and sit by his side until he wakes."

"There are other things to focus on right now."

"Like a hostage situation, like my pig-headed sister getting caught up in it."

Ziva nodded. "Gibbs will be fine. He will pull through, if only to come back here and kick Gilman's butt."

Jenny laughed.

"Is that the right term?"

The Director patted Ziva's arm. "It's the right term, but I'm afraid there's going to be quite a queue to get to Mr. Gilman."


	8. Ideas and Information

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Okay everyone, put down the pitchforks... Please? I know I might be a little evil at the end of this chapter, but I don't want to be lynched..._

Chapter 8: Ideas and Information

Abby wanted nothing more than to go to Bethesda and sit by Gibbs' side. Her silver-haired fox had been hurt and he needed her support. She needed to know that he was going to pull through, that the doctors were doing their best, that there were no complications, that he was still breathing –

She forced herself to stop worrying. Ducky was with him, and would let them know if something happened. If Gibbs were awake, he would send her back to do her job, which right now consisted of helping everyone in MTAC.

The Goth was concerned about everyone in there. It had been five hours now, and they would be scared and confused. Cynthia was in there, as was Lily, as were a few techs she had met in passing. Gibbs had been in there with Jenny, but they were now out.

It was better than nothing.

Abby watched the others scurry around. Tony was trying to trace Robert Gilman – or '_that damn SOB'_ as Abby had taken to calling him in her head – to find out who he really was. Ziva was calling various contacts to see if they could tell her anything. Charlie, the cute blond, was chattering away on his cell phone, trying to persuade someone to hunt through the CIA archives for something. Fornell was sipping coffee as he leafed through a file. McGee was typing away furiously at his keyboard. And the Director…

She had returned to Gibbs' chair, her hands and face now clean. After stealing a coffee from Charlie, she had leant back in her/Gibbs' chair with her feet on the desk in front of her. She appeared to be asleep; the only sign betraying her consciousness was her fingers absently drumming out a slow rhythm on the armrests.

No one had called MTAC again, and Abby was anxious to know that everyone was okay. Conversely, no more shots had been fired.

She couldn't believe that she had been worried about getting the Director and Gibbs back together a mere five hours ago. Although, come to think of it, maybe this would help. Maybe they would realize how precious life is and get back together. Maybe Gibbs would propose in the squad room. Maybe they would get married and have more Gibblets.

Abby forced herself back to the present. She could wonder about the future when everyone was safe.

"Timmy?" she asked, a different thought popping into her head.

"Gibbs is going to be fine," he answered her absentmindedly.

"I know he will because he's Gibbs and nothing ever happens to really incapacitate him and anyway Ducky's with him and Ducky wouldn't let anything happen to him as he knows I'd come after him and he's also Gibbs' friend –"

"Breathe," the Director interrupted, her eyes still closed.

"They're in MTAC, correct?"

McGee looked up from his typing and stared at her. "Correct."

"And you can have video-conferencing in MTAC."

"Correct."

"So we could call MTAC and see and hear what's going on."

"Slight problem with that, Abs," Tony called across the room. "The place is sealed."

Jenny sat bolt upright.

"It's not sealed?" Fornell queried.

"It's definitely sealed," she muttered, thinking aloud. "But if it's sealed, they can't answer a call, which means it should be possible to call MTAC and get ourselves a live feed."

"Should be possible?" Fornell checked.

"I'm not the computer expert," she defended. "I come up with ideas, you can put them into action."

Everyone turned to look at Abby.

"I could give it a try," she offered. "But I'd need Timmy's help."

"Go," Jenny ordered. "I'm guessing the lab is a better place to try this?"

Abby grinned. "Bert can help out."

The redhead shook her head slightly as she settled back to her previous position. Abby took McGee's arm and led him from the squad room.

* * *

Tobias Fornell was increasingly impressed at NCIS' attitude to the hostage crisis. He had fully expected them to do what they FBI would: not have to evacuate because everyone would have ran for it, struggle to get agents to help out, and make a big mess of everything.

Instead, everyone had pulled together and continued to do so. Even DiNutso was working, probably harder than he'd ever done in his life before now. Although they had initially been leaderless, they had bought in other agencies to help and managed to rescue their Director and Gibbs.

Not bad for an agency at the bottom of the food chain.

He hadn't expected Lily. The CIA agent had taken temporary control and traded herself for her sister. That took some guts. Gibbs had not warned him about a sister and he wondered why. Although he supposed she had already proved herself to be reckless.

He felt sorry for her partner. Charlie was stuck outside with no knowledge of how she was, unable to help her if the situation escalated, no way to back her up and provide the necessary support. All he could do was sit and worry.

Except he wasn't. Even this CIA agent had rolled his sleeves up and got stuck in. He had been making phone calls, bringing people coffee and other assorted drinks, encouraging some of the more outwardly nervous agents who were contacting families and keeping them updated. He had even found the time to keep an eye on Jenny, who was still trying to come up with a plan of action.

Charlie might have been hiding his attempts to watch his partner's sister, but not well enough. His eyes seemed to gravitate that way; Fornell guessed because she was the spitting image of her sister and he was used to observing a redhead. He had placed the rucksack taken from Lily's car at Jenny's feet, in case she decided to use it.

The Director could do with putting a new shirt on. The blood might have dried, but it was Gibbs' blood.

"You do realize," he spoke aloud and in the redhead's general direction. "That Lily could develop Stockholm Syndrome."

"This isn't the first time she's been a hostage, Agent Fornell," she soothed, her eyes staying closed. "And Stockholm Syndrome takes day to develop. Lil's tough."

"People react in different ways to different situations."

She laughed, a reaction he hadn't been expecting. Charlie chuckled, before going back to his phone conversation.

"Something I said?"

The Director sat up again and looked him dead in the eye, amusement plain on her face. "We act exactly the same in every situation. How do you think we can swap over so easily? Lil won't talk, she won't bond with her captor, and she's not a threat. Stop worrying about it and start worrying about something we have control over."

Fornell wasn't easily pacified. "She knows secrets? Then she could trade some of those secrets. She could open up."

The Director dismissed his concerns with a wave of her hand. "The codes have been changed. She could tell him everything she knows and it wouldn't make a difference. He is not going to be able to tell anyone, and he is definitely not coming out alive if I have a say in things."

"There's a chance –"

She cut him off. "Our first priority is to get everyone out alive. We can cross Stockholm Syndrome hurdles when we come to them. Right now, I want as much information as possible on Robert Gilman."

"Got it!" Tony called.

* * *

Tony DiNozzo had been slaving away for the last few hours in an attempt to find out everything he could about Robert Gilman. It hadn't been easy, but nothing was.

Excluding watching movies and dating beautiful women of course.

As much as he was pleased to have Gibbs safe in Bethesda and Jenny back in charge, he was concerned about Lily. She was not in the safest place, even if she was probably bugging the guy so much he was about to let everyone go and put a bullet in his own skull.

Lily was a nice woman, a doting mother and a protective sister. He wanted to know that she was okay, not potentially dead on the floor of MTAC.

"Robert Gilman is actually his real name. Why he didn't bother to change it is beyond me…"

He noticed the glare Jenny was sending his way.

"But that doesn't matter. He converted to Islam four years ago and has belonged to an Islamic radical group for the last three years. I'm not even going to try to pronounce the name of it, because it looks a real tongue twister."

Ziva and Fornell rolled their eyes, while Jenny quirked an eyebrow.

"These guys are pretty hardcore; they've been tied to kidnappings, murders, blackmail and so on, but never to taking hostages."

"I think he expected me to roll over," Jenny pointed out. "As if no one's ever pointed a gun at me before."

"It was probably planned to be a quick job," Ziva agreed. "He gets in, places a few calls, gets out."

"Gets martyred?" Jenny suggested.

"Possible," Ziva agreed.

"Ladies!" Tony interrupted. "Much as I enjoy hearing your dulcet tones, it might help if I finished my spiel first."

Ziva looked as though she wanted to murder him.

"Basically –"

"Yadda yadda yadda. Get to the point," Jenny ordered.

" – He could get out messages all over the world if he manages to get into our system."

"Tell me something we don't know," Fornell groaned. "Does anyone have something new to add?"

The elevator doors dinged once again, and everyone automatically turned to see who was coming through. Tony could see a tall older man with grey hair, built like a Marine. And someone else as well, someone he'd seen before.

A moment later, he was more concerned with what Jasper yelled in delight at the top of his voice as he launched himself at the redhead's legs.

"Mommy!"


	9. Lilith and Jennifer

_A/N1: Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Ack, the first half of this story was horrible to write. But I was cackling the whole way through._

_A/N2: Please note that the characters have been referring to the sisters as who they think they are. For example, Cynthia started off calling both sisters 'Jenny' because she was unaware of Lily. Gibbs, who can tell them apart, has been calling them by the right names. The team have been calling them whichever way round they claim to be._

Chapter 9: Lilith and Jennifer

"Lilith Shepard, you'd better have a damn good excuse for this!"

Ziva David stared at the redhead in shock. This was not true. This had to be some horrible dream. She would wake up in a minute…

She watched Tony slap himself on the back of the head, as if he was trying to wake up too, and realized something was very wrong here. Fornell looked as though he was about to faint, while Charlie only winced.

Charlie's previous actions started to make sense. He had worked it out a while ago. Somehow or other he had worked out which way round the sisters were…

This was seriously not good.

The redhead rolled her eyes, held up a hand to silence the newcomer and bent down to her son's height.

"Jasper, what's Rule One?"

The boy let go of her and thought about it. "Always check which way round you are before I call you anything."

"And did you?"

Jasper shrugged. "He said you were in trouble and we could have a nice trip. You don't look like you're in trouble."

Lily grinned. "I am now." She straightened up, looking at the newcomer.

"Explain yourself," he ordered.

"Good afternoon to you too Loius," she replied, a cheeky grin on her face. "How are things? Don't tell me, Darlene did something stupid again."

Charlie burst into laughter, not bothering to hide it. Lily's grin widened. Even Jasper giggled.

Loius Arbourne, as Ziva suspected this was, looked as though he was about to explode in Lily's face. His own face was bright red with anger and the veins at the side of his neck were popping out.

"I want an explanation as to why you are here and the Director of NCIS willingly walked into a hostage situation," he roared.

Charlie stopped laughing, Jasper stepped behind Lily, and the entire squad room went silent.

"Calm down Louis… I mean Loius. Get any louder and our friendly neighborhood gunman will figure it out." Lily was not even slightly fazed by his reaction. "In my defense, I gave her sleeping pills this morning. She shouldn't be awake, let alone causing me problems. Next time I'll give her laxatives."

"When this is over," Arbourne answered, lowering his voice to a much better level but sounding as though he would like to kill everyone in the room. "Agent Ellis is suspended for a week, while _you_ are going to stay in Archives."

Lily blanched. "Can I be suspended too?"

The older man smiled, a dangerous smile. "I know exactly how much trouble you'll cause if I suspend you. A week sitting in Archives will bore you senseless. Got a problem with that?"

She brightened up. "I can harass Darlene in the canteen then. Oh, that rhymes!"

Arbourne shook his head in frustration. "If you go anywhere near Darlene –"

"We're not that bad."

He exploded again. "I am still picking squirrel intestines off my office wall from last time!"

"I had nothing to do with that squirrel," Lily smirked. "The dead pig on the other hand –"

"Do you really want two weeks in Archives?"

Lily pulled herself together. "Job one, get this situation sorted out. Job two, ride another motorbike through the halls. Got it."

"Good," he told her. "Bring me up to speed. And make sure it isn't my motorbike"

* * *

Jenny willed herself to stay calm inside MTAC. Gilman was still under the impression she was Lily, and she was going to keep it that way as long as she could.

Lily had tried to alert everyone outside before the trade-off by being herself. No one else had caught the 'haunting' comment, which was certainly Lily-esque. They had been too worried about rescuing Gibbs, something she had been worried about too.

For the moment, she was perfectly happy to sit inside MTAC with her employees and refuse to help Gilman. Lily would come up with a plan to get her out, simply because she was Lily. Jenny half-expected a missile to come through the door, or a group of Marines to come through the roof.

Or, more likely, SEALs.

Lily had not bothered to negotiate for the time being, allowing Jenny free reign to refuse to help Gilman. She knew why this was the case; Lily's plans often worked better if you were not thinking rationally. Although Gilman was now more guarded, he was beginning to panic, which meant mind games were easier, and more fun.

Gilman was furious that he'd been tricked. In reality, Jenny could guess the codes – anything Lily used as a code was easy for her to work out and vice versa – but he did not need to know that. Jenny's best hope was for Lily to have used someone else to come up with the new codes. Alternatively, she could give him what he wanted as a last resort.

Jenny hoped Jethro was recovering. It was the worst part of being stuck in MTAC; all she really wanted was to sit by his side and beg his forgiveness. Lily couldn't even be with him because she had to convince everyone else that she was Jenny, something Jethro could see through in an instant. He always had been able to tell them apart. She hoped he had not seen to tell anyone that morning about the CIA agent's presence or the whole thing would unravel.

In fact, it probably had unraveled if the faint noises outside were any suggestion. It took a lot of any noise to penetrate MTAC, but Jenny was prepared to swear that she had heard someone shouting. At a guess, it was Arbourne. Lily's boss correctly did not trust her as far as he could throw her, even though she was his best agent. If Arbourne had heard about the situation, he would have turned up himself and double-checked which sister was which.

Suddenly, Jenny was very glad to be safe inside MTAC. Arbourne could make Gibbs seem like a kitten when Lily wound him up. There were bets within the CIA as to when he'd have a heart attack. Lily's money was on 3 years and 2 months, although she was happy to attempt to shorten that time.

Gilman's body language indicated he had reached a conclusion. He put his hand into his pocket and withdrew the cell phone. Jenny watched as he dialed the last number and let it ring.

"Either give me the code," he ordered when he was answered. "Or I'll start shooting hostages."

* * *

Timothy McGee winced. Lily, and they were quite sure it was Lily now, had answered the ringing phone on Gibbs' desk and put it on speaker. Gilman sounded at the end of his tether.

He and Abby had spent the last hour trying to call MTAC without alerting anyone inside. It had not been easy, but they had managed it. Leaving the video on in the lab, they had rushed back to the squad room to provide the link.

He had not expected Jenny to be Lily, and fervently hoped Gilman had not worked it out as well. Still, it was nice to see Jasper again. The young boy had taken to running around the squad room. No one had bothered to stop him, although Lily had rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee.

Abby was working frantically to get the picture up on the screen for everyone to see. There was a slight difference between the computers downstairs and the ones in the squad room which was causing a delay. McGee hoped if any good came out of this, the discrepancy would be dealt with.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Gilman," Lily greeted him calmly. "Is everyone okay in there?"

"Shut up!" he answered. "Shut up and listen to me."

"I am listening." Lily sat in Gibbs' chair again, her back to the plasma screen where Abby was trying to get the picture. McGee leant over and carefully made sure the sound would be off when the link worked.

"I am fed up with your games. Give me the code now."

The picture finally emerged, in full view of everyone but Lily. McGee breathed a sigh of relief.

"I don't see why I should give you any code," Lily told him. "You've given my sister a black eye, and believe me, I'm not happy about that."

Hang on… how could she know? She couldn't see the screen from where she was sitting…

* * *

Cynthia held her breath as Gilman panicked. "How can you see what's going on in here?" he roared. "You're spying on me! Where are the cameras?"

She guessed someone was trying to sooth him on the other end of the phone, but to no avail. He stalked over to the redhead, pulled her from the chair, and placed the gun to her head. "Tell me now or I'll kill your sister."


	10. Ankle Twisting Aid

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Hurrah! Shades of Darkness has finally been finished and I can return to more cheery stories. _

Chapter 10: Ankle Twisting Aid

Lily mulled over the new development. It certainly had not been her smartest move to mention the black eye business, although she was annoyed about it. No one was allowed to hurt her sister in any way.

Except herself, when she was harassing Jenny, but that was sisterly fun.

She had not been happy when Jasper and Arbourne showed up. She liked Arbourne in an odd way; she couldn't imagine anyone else being her boss and she took great pleasure in winding him up. He also had some measure of control over her. Having been her boss for a number of years, he had discovered the best ways to make her work and how to punish her too, proven by the regular time she spent in Archives.

Archives were boring. They had nothing new in them. She couldn't make them into a mind game, although they did give her time to dream up new ones. She couldn't wind anyone up and she couldn't impersonate Jenny. She had to sit in a stuffy basement, which she had nicknamed 'The Dungeon', and read other people's case reports. She had to type some of them up, not easy when you used three fingers to type and got distracted easily, and locate other files for other agents. Sometimes she disappeared into the darkness (someone really needed to light the place better), picked an old file at random, and read it cover to cover. It passed the time better. Once, she had covered the entire place in fake snow, but Arbourne had found out and she had been on toothbrush toilet cleaning duty for a month.

Ex-SEALs. Not particularly imaginative, but why bother when the classics still worked?

Charlie had figured out which way round they were ages ago. She guessed it was the 'clone' comment. Jenny would not have voiced that thought, but she hadn't been utilizing too much effort. Everyone expected to see Jenny, so they saw her. Sure, she'd had to keep a lid on some of her more extreme ideas, but she could behave when she wanted too.

She had been fortunate that LJ hadn't warned anyone. An advantage of him getting shot, she supposed. She liked finding silver linings in everything. You missed catching someone? There was always next time. LJ getting shot? Preserved her cover. Jenny being stuck in MTAC with a homicidal maniac? It kept her away from the other unknown homicidal maniac.

Gilman knowing she had an idea of what was going on inside? She was perfectly capable of lying through her teeth, or telling the truth, whichever fit the situation better.

The truth was the better option this time. It would wind Arbourne up a bit more. Abby would hopefully enjoy it as well. Lily was fond of the Goth, although she had never spent any real time with her as herself.

"I can't see into MTAC," she lied as she swiveled her chair so she could see the screen. Her chair, LJ's chair. He was not going to be happy about that, something she would be pleased to see.

"Then how can you know so much?" Gilman roared, asking the right question.

Hmm. Decisions, decisions. Her main objective was to get the gun away from Jenny's head. "Lil and I are… sort of psychic."

Abby choked on the Caf-Pow she had picked up, courtesy of Charlie. Lily could practically see her mind ticking over. Psychic? Twins?

Gilman clearly didn't believe a word. "Bull. I want to know where the cameras are!"

"I can prove it." Not that she planned to, but he didn't need to know that. "I'm guessing I'm not on speaker?"

"Correct," he growled.

"In my rush to get down the stairs," – lie one – "I twisted my ankle." – lie two. "Jenny will be able to tell you that." –lie two and a half.

She had not twisted her ankle, but Gilman had no way of knowing that. If he did, it would make her life more complicated as it would prove a mole, but she liked complicated. Jenny would be able to guess it though. She had picked that injury because of a running joke between the sisters that Jenny would twist her ankle on the stairs as a result of wearing such high heels.

Lily briefly wondered if there was a bet going around NCIS about when Jenny would finally twist her ankle, and decided to ask Tony later. She could do with some time off, and winning a bet on top of that… even better.

* * *

Jenny was not happy to have a gun to her head. The last time this had happened, Lily's fiancé had been the one wielding it and he had been on their side. The time before that, she had been kidnapped by a ruthless drug dealer. Luckily, Gibbs was still a good shot.

This time, she was on her own. Unless Lily managed to talk him out of it.

"Fine," Gilman muttered into the phone. He moved it away from his ear. "You," he addressed her.

She couldn't resist taunting him. She supposed it was her Lily side coming through. "I have a name."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I prefer 'you'. Lily sounds so innocent, and you aren't."

There was a reason Lily used her nickname most of the time instead of her real one. 'Lilith' tended to give the game away.

"When your miserable sister left here, did anything happen to her?"

That had an obvious answer. "She twisted her ankle on the stairs." Old joke. If Lily had picked an injury, it would be that.

Gilman stared at her warily for a few moments, before returning to the cell phone. "I guess you're telling the truth, for once."

Like Lily ever told the truth. She was so used to lying, she could lie through a polygraph without blinking.

Gilman lowered the gun and continued to listen to Lily's voice.

Crisis over, for now.

* * *

Tony DiNozzo watched as Lily continued to calm Gilman down. She was acting as though she was speaking to a small child, although she was avoiding being patronizing.

It was a start. Lily was not the best person to hold negotiations, but she was sharper than most and knew how to string someone along. Especially how to string a man along.

He was still having problems believing she had hoodwinked him. It was now becoming clear just how well she could play games. He had watched her in Europe, but not been expecting any games. It was like observing a master.

Jenny had played them too. She had persuaded everyone that she was Lily and Lily was Jenny. Although no one had suspected that game. They had simply assumed and she hadn't corrected them. Jenny's only game had been to get Gibbs out of MTAC and to a hospital.

Whereas Lily's game had been to convince everyone she was really Jenny while simultaneously trying to work out how to get everyone out. Lily had been left with the clean-up operation. She wasn't doing a bad job actually. Only the arrival of her boss and her son had caused problems.

Tony was extremely glad Gibbs was his boss. He didn't think he'd last two minutes under Arbourne. Lily seemed to delight in winding him up though. Then again, Lily seemed to delight in winding everyone up. He wondered if it would be her downfall.

"You know I can't just give you the codes," Lily soothed. "My boss would have a heart attack." She smirked at Arbourne as she said this, and Tony could see the man struggling to control his temper. Gilman didn't need to know he was on speaker yet.

"I don't care about your boss," Gilman snarled. "I will kill everyone in here."

"And then I'll send an assault team in and kill you. We won't reach an agreement that way. We need to come up with something mutually beneficial."

"You give me the codes, I let everyone go."

"How do I know you won't kill everyone the moment I give you the codes?"

"I give you my word."

Lily laughed. "Your word is not good enough for me. I'd need something solid first."

"And you'd give me your word that I'd get the code?" Gilman scorned.

"Exactly. We're evidently not going to come to an agreement easily. I need time to talk to my bosses and clear everything with them. You need time to calm down. How about some humanitarian aid?"

"Do you delight in long words?"

"The dictionary is my bedtime reading," she quipped. "I'm currently through to S. Want me to read some to you?"

"Aid?"

"Food, water, a first aid kit. I'd be satisfied that my people are okay, my bosses would be happy to know everyone is safe, and you get something to eat and drink."

"Who would you send in?"

Lily looked over at Jasper, who had finally settled down with Abby. "I can think of one person you'd feel safe with."


	11. Left Outside Alone

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Just to make something clear - Cynthia still thinks Jenny is Lily, and Jenny is out of MTAC._

Chapter 11: Left Outside Alone

Cynthia watched as Gilman paced up and down the floor. He had stopped pointing the gun at the redhead, which was a start. He also seemed calmer, but more resolute.

Lily had settled back in her chair. Her coffee cup was now empty, but she cradled it as though it was full. Cynthia suspected it was a comfort thing. Everyone needed something to cling on to, whether it was in their heads or outside. One of the techs clung to his water bottle in the same way, while another was munching on sunflower seeds.

Despite the situation, Cynthia was glad that her boss was safe. Jenny was a good Director, who ran the agency well. She was friendly and kind. When Jenny had 'died', the agency had almost fallen apart. If she died for real, Cynthia had now decided to quit. Although Vance would not be back, someone else would have to take her place.

She doubted Gibbs would step up to it. He loved being an agent too much. As did Agent Wofford, who often filled in when neither Jenny nor Gibbs were available. Jenny had not gotten round to appointing another Assistant Director, and Cynthia could understand why she was taking so long. The last one had tried to kill her and fire half the agency. Another one would have to go through some pretty thorough background checks.

Cynthia could only hear one side of the conversation, but it was enough.

"An eight year old boy? You'd send an eight year old boy in?"

There was a long pause.

"You're damn right I wouldn't expect any tricks from a boy."

Another pause.

"This isn't some super-soldier, genetically enhanced, mutant boy is it?"

Cynthia tried not to giggle.

"Just an ordinary boy, huh? Where'd you find him?"

Honestly, what did he expect? Clone vats somewhere?

"You don't let just anyone wander around in this place."

Point well taken. Although Gilman himself was an exception to that rule.

"A trolley? With food and water on top?"

Everyone perked up. That sounded nice.

"Where's the catch?"

Paranoid or what? Knowing the people outside, there probably was one.

"Okay. He can enter and leave unharmed. But if I think there's a trick going on…"

That was a relief. Food and water would be much appreciated right now.

"If you pull anything, I'll kill a hostage this time."

Not good. Cynthia could only hope everything would work out.

* * *

"You can't be serious?!"

Charlie winced at Abby's piercing yell. He thought Arbourne was bad, but this woman knew how to scream.

Actually, he thought Lily's idea was a good one. He knew he was biased – Lily was his mentor after all – but Gilman would feel safer with a child delivering aid. If Gilman felt safe, he was less likely to kill someone. Jasper would be fine, or Lily would come up with some interesting tortures to get her revenge.

Unlike the others, he knew Lily would have a plan within the plan. Nothing was as it seemed with her. Even the most obvious thing had hidden meaning. Jasper was going inside MTAC to do something, something she couldn't get anyone else to do. Something that no one would expect a little boy to do.

He couldn't figure out what it was. He knew the people inside needed food and water, but what could Lily hope to gain from sending Jasper in for a few minutes? A distraction? She had yet to call in the SEALs, although this being the Navy Yard, the Marines were a more obvious choice.

Arbourne had withdrew his cell phone and was busy ordering the supplies and a trolley. Charlie pitied the poor minion on the other end who would be tasked with this job. No praise if they succeeded, lots of trouble if they didn't. Nevertheless, Arbourne was respected within the CIA, even by the people he controlled. He was strict, yes, but fair as well. He knew when to push someone further and when to leave them alone.

He did have a nasty habit of running the place as though everyone was a SEAL. But that wasn't always a bad thing. He expected everyone to be punctual and to do their best. He expected to be apprised of everything necessary. He expected his agents to make judgment calls when they needed to, and to ask his permission when they didn't. He was about the only person within the CIA, possibly barring the Director himself, who could control Lily in any way, shape or form. Someone had actually started a bet as to when he would fire Lily.

Charlie doubted it would ever happen. Lily was far more useful within the CIA than outside, and Arbourne knew it. When he found out about Jasper Shepard's murder, he had given Lily immediate compassionate leave and told her to see a shrink. She'd taken the leave, but avoided the shrink.

The one thing Charlie could not understand was how quickly she had pulled herself back together. A month ago, she was camped on his couch, refusing to allow the sunlight near her. One day, she had just got up, disappeared, and turned up three days later sleeping at her desk. She had thrown herself into her work, and had developed a tendency to vanish at a moment's notice and sleep on top of her desk. Her fiancé, Alex, was still trying to coax her to calm down. She had clearly confided something in him which she had yet to tell her partner.

"You cannot send your son in there!" Abby almost screamed, holding the boy close to her.

Jasper wriggled free. "It's my choice," he argued.

"Lily, you cannot send an eight year old into a hostage situation," McGee reasoned.

"Come on Lily, think about it," Tony tried. "Gilman could kill him."

Lily shook her head softly. "Like Jasper said, it's his choice."

"He's not old enough to understand," Tony shot back. "You are supposed to take care of him."

"I'm also supposed to take care of my sister and get those people out of MTAC."

"So find another way."

"There is not always another way," Ziva piped up. "If Jasper chooses to go inside, I will not stop him."

"Thank you," Lily smiled.

Jasper darted away from Abby as she made another grab for him.

"You're her boss," Abby pleaded to Arbourne. "Tell her she can't do this."

Arbourne didn't bat an eyelid. "It's her son, which makes it her choice. I trust her judgment, even if it isn't always perfect."

"Charlie?" Abby whined.

"Sorry," he told her. "It's Jasper's choice."

Lily knelt down to her son's level. "Will you help me?" she asked.

Jasper nodded. "Of course."

* * *

Tony DiNozzo kept his eyes on Jasper. He could hardly believe Lily's actions, but he trusted her up to a point. She had let her son made his own decision, even if he had been swayed by her.

He found himself smirking when Lily started to undo her shirt.

"Nothing you haven't seen before," she replied, a smirk on her own lips. He was surprised; he had not realized she was watching him.

He was even more surprised with what was under her shirt. A bulletproof vest, although one he'd never seen before. It was very thin and wasn't easy to notice under her shirt. She dropped the bloodstained shirt on Gibbs' desk before removing the vest.

"Keep going," he teased.

Ziva shot him a look that implied he was about to meet his demise with a stapler, and decided to keep his mouth shut for the time being.

Lily pulled her shirt back on and re-buttoned it carefully. Tony could not understand how she was so attached to it at the moment. If he had been wearing it, it would have been in the bin a long time ago.

He wondered if it was connected to Jenny. Both sisters always wore the same things, and if Lily changed, they would not be identical any more.

The redhead gestured to her son, and Jasper moved closer to Gibbs' desk. With one swift move, she scooped him up so he was standing on the surface. Mother and son shared a grin.

"Okay, my darling. This is going to keep you safe." Lily helped him put the vest on over his T-shirt. She smiled at him again, before putting her mouth next to his ear and whispering something. Tony could not tell what it was, but it took a few minutes. Jasper nodded at various points.

Finally, Lily leant back and smiled again. "Got it?"

"Got it," he replied.

The procession made its way to the catwalk again. A few others joined them, security guards from the front desk who were pushing a trolley.

"It's a slope down," Lily told her son. "It doesn't matter if the trolley crashes into something, just make sure it gets inside."

Jasper nodded sagely, amazingly unruffled. Tony knew he'd be incredibly nervous if he was about to enter a hostage situation, even if it was only to be for a few minutes.

"Should we stick anything to the trolley?" McGee questioned. "A camera, a microphone, a gun?"

"He'll check it," Lily answered. "We've already got video and audio. This is a good faith gesture." She pressed her lips to Jasper's forehead. "I've got to open the doors," she told him. "Be an angel."

He grinned back up at her. "See you soon, Mom."

The redhead disappeared into the office round the corner. Everyone took up positions again.

The door creaked open slowly, and Tony could see Cynthia opening it. Charlie helped Jasper push the trolley forwards, letting go so that only the boy entered MTAC. Cynthia smiled at him.

Then it all went pear-shaped.

Gilman pointed the gun at Cynthia's head. "Close the door," he ordered.

Cynthia looked torn, but did as she was told, trapping Jasper in MTAC.


	12. Jasper's Job

__

Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! First time I've ever tried a Jasper perspective, and I hope it works.

Chapter 12: Jasper's Job

Ziva David was in shock. She had understood that Jasper was going to be taking a risk going inside MTAC, but she had not expected him to become a hostage too.

Telling Lily was not going to be fun.

She could see why Cynthia had closed the door, although she supposed the other woman would be kicking herself over it. With a gun to your head, there was often little choice but to obey.

Jasper was a nice, polite boy. He had wanted to help out, and was now sucked into a nightmare. Ziva wanted nothing more than to storm into MTAC and rescue him, along with everyone else. But if they opened the doors, Gilman would hear them coming…

The only good thing she could think of was that the hostages now had food and water. Unfortunately, this also meant that Gilman had food and water, and could last for longer. Still, a goodwill gesture was a good move to make at this point. Lily had wound him up, and now she was calming him down, drawing him further into her game.

She doubted Lily had thought of this move.

The mind game player extraordinaire had been outplayed.

The Israeli watched as Lily reappeared from Jenny's office, a slight smile on her face.

"Erm, Lil," Charlie greeted her, extremely nervous.

"Howdy partner," she replied. "Where's Jasper?"

"Err… Gilman forced Cynthia to close the door with Jasper inside."

Ziva closed her eyes, determined to avoid watching the bloodshed. She noticed Abby, McGee and Tony were doing the same.

"Good."

They opened their eyes in a flash and stared at Lily. _Good?_

Lily was grinning like the cat that got the… milk? No, cream. "Kill all power to the squad room, and I suggest you evacuate as well, or at least get off this catwalk. Ziva, with me."

Ziva stared at the others. They all looked as confused as she felt. What was going on? Charlie and Arbourne took her at her word, immediately heading down the stairs. The others shrugged and followed. The Israeli pulled herself together and headed after Lily. She needed some answers.

* * *

Jasper Thompson continued to push the trolley down the slope, further into MTAC. His mom had told him this would happen. He didn't mind; he was happy to help.

The man she had called Robert stopped him at the end with a wave of his hand. Jasper did not need the instruction to guess at what would happen next.

"Move to one side," Robert demanded. "Put your hands in the air and spread your legs."

Jasper did not bother to hide his bemused expression. Like his mom would ever let him near a gun or knife! Still, Mom had told him to follow all instructions the man gave him, and he was going to obey her. He moved to the side, and held his hands up in the same way he had seen people do on TV.

Robert approached him and carefully patted down his bulletproof vest and pants. He seemed surprised not to find anything hidden.

"Turn out your pockets," came the next instruction.

Jasper did not understand why he was being asked to do it, but followed the order anyway. Sometimes Mom asked him to empty his pockets, but only when she thought he might have hidden something in them he shouldn't have. Ah! Maybe the bad man thought he might have bought something in. If so, he would be disappointed.

He emptied his pockets next to one of the keyboards. The tech there gave him a weak smile, and he returned a brighter one. Everything was going to be okay, after all. Mom had promised.

A few tissues, a handful of frogspawn he had taken from the school lake, a paperclip chain, a daisy chain one of the girls had given him, a key to the apartment, a hair band his mom used to use before he stole it to carry with him at all times, three sweets, a toffee, five cents, and a scrap of paper with his mom's work number on it all found their way onto the keyboard. Robert scrunched his nose up at it all, the same way Mom did when she saw something she wasn't happy with.

The man picked his way through his meager belongings, before turning his attention to the trolley.

Silently and swiftly, Jasper leaned over the keyboard and typed a nineteen digit alphanumeric code. Mom had repeated it to him several times, making sure he remembered it. Nothing seemed to happen, but Jasper knew he had done the most important part of his job.

By the time Robert looked up again, Jasper was back to his previous position. The man came over to him.

"You really think that's going to protect you?" he sneered, pointing to the bulletproof vest.

Jasper resisted the urge to tell him that his mom would beat him at whatever game he was playing. It was more fun if he didn't know about it.

Robert turned to Aunt Jenny, sitting in a seat. "Take yours off ," he yelled.

Aunt Jenny rolled her eyes, but did as he asked. Once it was off, Jasper made a move for it. He remembered what mom had said, and walked slowly but purposefully over to it. He picked it up and put it on himself, over the previous one. Mom said that Lambton Skin could stop bullets easily, but she would prefer it if he was wearing more than one layer. Just in case, she said.

Robert turned back to him. "Do you really think that'll help you?" he growled. "If I want to kill you, I'll put a bullet in your head, not your chest."

Jasper remembered the next instruction he had been given. If threatened, start to cry. Go and sit with someone. He thought of the saddest thing he could come up with, being at Mom's funeral. The tears came easily and he let himself sob.

Robert turned away, not longer interested in him. Jasper took the opportunity to cuddle in someone's arms. She looked friendly and cuddly. Her hands ran over his head in an attempt to calm him.

"It's going to be okay," she muttered. "I'm Cynthia. What's your name?"

* * *

Lily felt rather than saw Ziva follow her into Jenny's office. She whirled and closed the door behind her, so that no one else could hear what was about to be said.

"Tell me that was part of the plan," Ziva hissed.

Lily had come to the conclusion a long while ago that the only way to solve this was for someone to unlock MTAC from the inside. She also knew that Gilman would be alert if Jenny went anywhere near a keyboard, and Jenny could not rely on getting an instant response if she unsealed the place.

Whatever happened needed to be coordinated.

Her idea had been to get someone else inside. Someone Gilman would not suspect. She had vaguely recalled her hostage negotiation training. Making goodwill gestures and stalling for time were the main things she had been told. Lily had disagreed with the trainer and told him the best way to defuse a situation was by pointing out the futility of it all. The resulting dispute had stretched into a fight. Literally.

Winding Gilman up had been fun and useful. He clearly had a mission to complete, and would not be easy to stall. Harassing him meant he was distracted, annoyed, and paranoid. He would suspect anyone she sent inside. Her primary job done, she had moved onto the secondary. She had calmed him down to the point of getting him to accept the food and water. Jasper had been the obvious choice.

She did not have to like asking him, but she knew he could do it. Her tipping point had been the fact that she would have sent someone else's child in without another thought.

She had done everything she could to protect him. He was wearing her Lambton Skin, and could end up with Jenny's as well. He had been told what to do, and she had made sure to let him know that if he couldn't do it, Mommy would not be upset. She did not want him messing part of it up because he was worried about failing her.

If he couldn't do it, she honestly would not be mad at him. She knew he would do his best, and she couldn't ask for more. If this plan failed, she was going to send the SEALs in. The Marines would not be happy, but her boss would be. He always preferred it when she used the SEALs rather than 'the SEAL wannabes' as he referred to the Marines.

She wondered what LJ would make of that statement. It would be a fun encounter to watch.

"That was part of the plan," she answered the Israeli.

She reached into Jenny's desk and withdrew two tasers. Handing one to Ziva, she outlined her strategy.

"Go in the farthest door, I'll take the other. Only use this; I don't want someone else to get hurt, especially my son. Once he's down and the room cleared, you can do what you like with Gilman."

Ziva nodded once to show she understood. Lily took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

Time to end this.


	13. Rescue

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Everything is starting to come together now..._

Chapter 13: Rescue

Jenny had been surprised to see Jasper, but hid it well. It wouldn't do for Gilman to realize she not only knew him, but was his aunt.

For his part, Jasper did not acknowledge her either. Clearly Lily had given him some instructions to carry out, or she would not have risked her son.

It seemed as though everyone held their breath as Jasper typed in the code. Jenny recognized the number of keystrokes as correct. MTAC was now open again, although Gilman did not know about it. She hoped Lily would make her move soon, or he could figure it out. It would be very bad luck indeed if someone called before the SEALs arrived.

It would obviously be the SEALs. Arbourne was on site, and he loved calling in his former pals to do the job. Especially if it annoyed the Marines.

Jenny wondered why Arbourne was around. She knew everyone thought she was Lily, but had someone actually called Lily's boss? Who would be that stupid? Someone who didn't know him, obviously. Someone who had never suffered his wrath. Either that, or the news about Lily had leaked outside NCIS so fast that he had personally heard of it and came rushing down to help his agent.

At least he did not know which way around they were. This situation was already nightmarish, and she didn't need some more problems. As it was, Gibbs would chew her out, and Lily. If the rest of his team figured it out, Ziva would have a go at her. Charlie might try complaining if he guessed, but with even more luck he was wandering the halls of the CIA, dealing with another crisis Lily had sworn she was all over like a rash.

What had she done to end up in the middle of one crisis after another? First Vance, then Kos, then Europe with a crazy Lily, and now this. Was it possible for her to have a rest for a few days? Catch her breath? Play with her children?

Entering this surreal situation, she had been aware she might never see her children again. She wanted to hold them, to see their smiling little faces. They were true innocents, having no idea about all the evil in the world. One day they would grow up and discover some of Lily's doings. Hopefully, they would be nothing like their aunt and more like their father.

She wanted to let Jethro see them, but she couldn't. It was too dangerous. Keeping him at arm's length was the best thing she could do right now, however much it was breaking her heart. He couldn't get caught up in this. It was bad enough that the twins were in danger, but Lily could help protect them. She couldn't watch over Jethro all the time, and something could happen to him. She knew it would.

All her planning had done was put him in a hospital bed. Although it was not directly her fault, Jenny felt guilty. Perhaps she should let him see the twins after all. He, like Lily's husband, could die any day. Surely he could spend some time with his children.

* * *

Jasper had learnt to be patient a long time ago. Mom could leave the country at the drop of a hat, and he knew she could not contact him easily most of the time. Being patient was the only thing he could be.

Now he was waiting patiently for Mom to appear. He still had one more instruction to carry out if he had to.

Robert was getting edgy. He had allowed everyone to take some bottled water and sandwiches from the trolley – Mom's boss had also put some chocolate bars on there as well, but Robert had taken that for himself – and was now pacing up and down, muttering to himself.

Jasper wondered what his mom was doing now. She had promised to be as quick as she could and he trusted her. He did not like Robert though; he was too careless with his gun. He waved it around like a toy. Mom said that guns were dangerous and he should not touch one without her present. This man did not seem to know the rule.

Like right now, he was scratching his forehead with the tip of the gun. Jasper questioned whether he should remind Robert or not, and decided not to. Mom would deal with him. Mom and perhaps Charlie.

Jasper liked Charlie. Mom's work partner took him to the fair when he was in town. Sometimes they went to the zoo as well.

Jasper also liked Alex. Mom was engaged to Alex, but she had made it clear he was not a replacement for Dad. Jasper had been scared he would be told to call the Russian 'Dad', but that wasn't the case. Alex was nice and smiled a lot. He made his mom smile as well. Anyone who could make Mom happy was fine by him.

Robert finally lost his temper and pulled Jasper to his side. The boy closed his eyes, his final instruction.

"Give me the code now or I'll shoot him!" Robert roared at Aunt Jenny. "You want to be responsible for the death of a child? I'll kill him, and then I'll kill everyone else. Give me the code!"

Jasper cracked one eye open slowly. Aunt Jenny looked nervous. He thought she might crack, but he could not say anything to her. He was not allowed to let Robert know she was his aunt.

Then he saw some movement in the corner of his eye. A woman was slowly making her way into MTAC, hiding in the shadows. He recognized her; it was Ziva.

So if Ziva was coming in, where was Mom?

Very slowly and carefully, he turned his head to the other door. He could see Mom making her way in as well, a gun in her hand. Realizing he would be grounded if she caught him peeking, he closed his eyes again.

The next thing Jasper knew, Robert went down like a sack of bricks, screaming at the top of his lungs. The boy decided the bad man had a girly scream, before breaking free and running to his mom.

Ziva stayed where she was, gun held out.

* * *

Jenny was happy to see her sister. She pulled herself up from her chair to take in the rest of the situation.

Ziva had tasered Gilman. Jenny should have guessed her sister would employ non-lethal force if her son was in the room. She also suspected that the tasers had been retrieved from her own desk. Lily had a few, but she tended to carry guns and knives. And the odd explosive of course.

Jasper was busy trying to climb up Lily. She was trying to pick him up with one arm, not an easy task with an eight year old. At the same time, she was attempting to sweep the rest of the room with her taser, just in case.

Jenny did not know what she would have done if they hadn't entered at that point. Gilman had a gun to her nephew's head. She had been about to tell him the code, in an attempt to stall for time. He wouldn't have realized MTAC was already unsealed, and it could have bought a few minutes for Lily.

Everyone else in the room was starting to realize they were now free. A few of the techs high-fived each other, some hugged the nearest person, and some burst into tears.

Gilman lay on the floor, conscious but not happy. Ziva had moved closer and kicked the gun away from him. Jenny moved over to help her search for any other weapons on his person.

It took a couple of moments, but he was clean. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was all finally over.

"Out," Lily ordered the techs in her 'I'm the Director of NCIS, you'd better do what I say or else' voice.

Nobody bothered to argue; they were too happy to be free. Ziva grabbed Gilman under the arms and frog marched him from the room.

"I can do whatever I want with him, correct?" she called over her shoulder.

"As long as he's alive at the end of it," Lily yelled back, lowering her taser at last and hugging Jasper tightly to her.

The sisters looked at each other. Without saying a word, Jenny knew what Lily wanted. Her sister lowered Jasper to the floor, and started to take off her shirt. Jenny followed suit. They each retrieved a bulletproof vest from Jasper, putting it on and swapping shirts over. Now Lily was Jenny and Jenny was Lily again.

Jenny picked up her nephew, smiling as he patted the dried blood on her shirt. "Jasper," she whispered. "I need you to call me Mom for a little while, okay?"

He nodded, completely used to it. Jenny carried him out, leaving Lily behind, staring at a spot on the floor.


	14. The Last Swap

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Only the epilogue to go after this... The next story will be entitled The Oncoming Storm, and I will mention it a bit more in my next post. I have finally got round to putting all the Lily stories on my profile page, in order, and with the current completion level so you can see where I am. I hope this helps._

Chapter 14: The Last Swap

Arbourne groaned as the redhead emerged, Jasper in her arms. Her shirt was still stained with blood as she had refused to remove it.

He liked his best agent, honestly he did. But sometimes she overstepped the line too much. He was not worried about covering her ass for the higher-ups, but concerned that she did not know when enough was enough. She was already going to be spending a week in Archives for this, and he had a feeling it was going to be longer.

She was the only agent left who dared to speak back to him. In secret, he loved having someone to keep him on his toes and stop him from becoming surrounded by 'yes men'. He also suspected she knew about this. She delighted in winding him up, knowing all the right buttons to push.

It did not mean he let her get away with things though. She could be a complete menace if she wasn't controlled, and he was determined to control her actions outside the CIA, even if he could not stop her from harassing Darlene and playing mind games on the Probies.

If she persuaded one more batch of Probies to run naked through the halls again…

The last time he had hauled her into his office over her actions, she had retorted that she needed to practice on someone, and he would be more upset if she played with civilians. He understood her point, but warned her if the Director became involved, he would not shield her.

Judging by her grin, she had already played the Director for a fool at some point. Or perhaps she just had good blackmail material.

Knowing Lily, it was probably an interesting combination of both.

Her reports always made for interesting reading. She tended to skim over things she should not have done, while letting the rest of the agency know the finer details. He had often wondered who really wrote her reports. He suspected Lily wrote them, before passing them to her sister to censor. Jenny was a lot more tactful sometimes, and this tact had a habit of appearing in reports.

Persuading her to take a partner had not been easy. Lily had gone through agents assigned to her like no tomorrow. After she managed to send one of her partners to his office begging to be reassigned within twenty minutes of him meeting her, he had called her in. Under strong pressure, she had agreed to pick her own partner, and taken six months to do so. The results were good though. Charles Ellis was a fine agent, and was flourishing under Lily's guidance. He also kept her in check.

Oh well, nothing for it. Time to chew her out again.

"Lilith Shepard, if you ever pull a stunt like that again I will have you reassigned to Archives for a whole year!" he screamed at her. "You do not risk your own life or your son's life without good cause! Get some control over your sister and stop her from wandering into any more hostage situations! I don't care if you have to put a bullet in her head to do so! Get your butt into Archives for the next week and stay out of trouble! Have I made myself clear?"

He felt a lot better. There was nothing like yelling at a junior agent to relieve stress. The squad room had fallen silent during his tirade. The redhead had not batted an eyelid.

"Yes sir," she replied, stoking the back of her son's head.

He stormed out. "Ellis! With me!"

Charlie made it into the elevator with a split second to spare.

* * *

Tony DiNozzo watched as another redhead came down the stairs. He had a funny feeling they might have swapped over again, so refrained from naming them for a moment. It would soon be clear…

It was good to have rescued everyone in one piece. Ziva and Fornell had dragged Gilman down to Interrogation, and Tony planned to dash over shortly to see what they would do to him. He suspected Observation would suffer a strange power cut so the tapes would not record.

He wondered how Gibbs was doing. Ducky had not updated them for a while. The last thing anyone knew, Gibbs was in surgery. Now seemed like a good time to call Bethesda.

The redhead with the stained shirt placed Jasper carefully on the floor. "Mom?" he asked.

"Over here," came the reply from the other redhead.

Interesting. Jenny had just been chewed out by Lily's boss. Tony guessed this might happen a lot.

"Ough," Lily groaned as Jasper ran into her arms. "Sweetheart, I've had a long day. Go attack someone else. Try Abby; I bet she'd love a hug."

Jasper grinned, let go of his mom and ran into Abby's outstretched arms. "Jasper! You're okay! I was so worried about you being stuck in MTAC but your mom wasn't worried at all and I guessed she might have a plan and we were watching you on the screen down here and you did such a good job and I'm so proud of you –"

"Breathe," Jenny advised, smiling.

"Arbourne's a softie," Lily noted. "I thought I was going to end up cleaning toilets for sure."

"He makes you clean toilets?" Tony questioned, stunned.

"Ex-SEAL," she shrugged. "He won't be too happy when he realizes I use his toothbrush to clean them."

Tony couldn't help the snort that escaped. "He doesn't notice?"

"Apparently not. Who am I to tell him?"

"You'll deal with SECNAV?" Jenny checked.

"Of course," Lily grinned. "He reminds me of Shirley Temple when he yells."

"Shirley Temple?"

"Child star," Tony prompted. "Big in the thirties, popularity waned as a teenager –"

A slap to the back of the head, delivered by Lily, cut him off.

"I know who she is," Jenny corrected. "I just fail to see the connection."

"Same here," Lily admitted. "I enjoy trying to tally his features with hers though. I never know what he's yelling at me because I'm too busy thinking."

Jasper finally wriggled free of Abby and attacked Tony next. "Hey little man. You were so brave in there," Tony told him.

"Can I hit him?" Jasper asked his mom.

"Like LJ? Sure," she smirked.

Tony bent down so Jasper could reach the back of his head. "Ouch! Jeez, you hit harder than Gibbs does!" he complained.

"Don't call me little," Jasper grinned back.

Tony shook his head as Jasper reached for McGee. "Mind the Probie," he ordered. "He's delicate. You might break him."

* * *

Timothy McGee groaned as Tony taunted him. Jasper snuggled closer.

It was nice to know that the boy was not suffering any ill effects of his time in MTAC. He couldn't believe Lily had risked her own son though. She might have given him a choice, but she should have stopped him.

She should have warned them earlier about Jenny going in to MTAC. Although her actions had removed Gibbs from the situation, they had put the Director in danger. There must have been a way to get Gibbs released without risking someone else's life.

He should have realized the swap much earlier. He had spent time with Lily! He should be capable of telling the sisters apart. If Gibbs could do it, and Jasper, surely it was possible for everyone else too. There had to be a noticeable difference between them somewhere.

He had been relying on their behavior to tell them apart, but it was hard to remember that Jenny was the same as Lily and would thus make the same decisions. Jenny had come up with crazy ideas before, but Lily tended to take them to a totally different level. Not many people would blow themselves up for a mission, or slip their sister sleeping pills to prevent them from going to work.

His cell phone rang, and he fished it from his pocket. It took one glance at the caller ID to make him alert the others.

"It's Ducky!" he announced.

He answered the phone as everyone gathered nearer.

"Hello Ducky."

"Timothy, my dear lad. How are things going over there?" came the voice.

"Great. We've got everyone out, Gilman's with Ziva, and it turns out Lily was Jenny."

"I take it my services might be required with Mr. Gilman?" Ducky joked. "I'm not going to tell Jethro about the sisters."

"I won't either. In fact, I'd like to be in the next state when he finds out."

"If you're talking about LJ finding out which way round we were, don't bother," Lily piped up. "He knew all along. Pity he couldn't tell you."

McGee rolled his eyes. "Did you get that, Ducky?"

"I did hear Lily's delightful tones, if that's what you are referring to," the doctor replied. "Tell everyone that Jethro is fine and should make a full recovery very swiftly. The only real problem was the loss of blood he suffered, but he should be back to work in no time."

McGee smiled. It was the best news he'd heard all day. "Thanks Ducky. I'll tell them now and we'll all come over later."

"I look forward to seeing you, Timothy," Ducky replied before he hung up.

McGee turned to the others. "Gibbs is fine," he grinned.


	15. Epilogue

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! At last, the end is here... The next story is entitled The Oncoming Storm, and posting should begin soon. Ever wanted to delve into Lily's world a little more? The Oncoming Storm is told entirely from her perspective, when she is forced to 'babysit' the team._

Chapter 15: Epilogue

Leroy Jethro Gibbs hid a smile as his team visited. In reality, he wanted nothing more than to leave the hospital, but knew he would have more luck persuading Lily to help him. She would probably agree, if only to annoy the doctors.

Tony was attempting to tell him what had happened back at the Navy Yard, but Ziva and McGee kept interrupting him, and accusations of exaggeration were flying everywhere. Gibbs was keeping silent, for now. He planned to get the full story from Lily later.

He wanted to ask Jenny about what had happened, but she had not yet appeared. Lily would certainly show up, mainly because she could not resist the chance to gloat. Her version of events would involve her saving everyone singlehandedly, but at least her bias was obvious. And she wouldn't blatantly contradict herself as DiNozzo was doing.

At last, they all filed out, promising to come back tomorrow. Gibbs sighed and settled back down. He might as well get comfortable.

A knocking on the window disturbed him, and he opened his eyes, ready to yell at whoever was trying to stop him sleeping…

It was Lily.

She opened the door carefully, and he noticed she had a twin in her hand.

"Jenny's getting the coffee," she answered before he could ask. "She's got Rose."

He smiled up at Camilla, the stress of his day forgotten. The painkillers made his arms feel like lead, but he managed to caress her little head softly.

The door opened again, and Jenny entered this time. She had the promised coffee in one hand and Rose in the other.

"Hey," he whispered.

Jenny smiled at him. He knew she was holding something back, but decided not to push her for now. This was a good enough start.

"Hey yourself," she replied, bringing Rose to his side.

He ignored the coffee and stroked Rose's cheek.

"Good thing we came," Lily smirked. "He's so ill, he doesn't want the coffee."

"I want the coffee," he growled at her. "I want to see the twins more."

Lily carefully placed Camilla on her father's chest. "Scream if it hurts," she advised.

Jenny shook her head as the twins continued to sleep.

"Do you two need some alone time?" Lily asked. "Because I can head down to the coffee machine and get enough for everyone."

Gibbs smiled at her gesture. Lily could be an angel when she wanted to be.

"I'd prefer it if you stayed," Jenny told her.

What was going on?

Jenny took a deep breath to steady herself before she spoke. "I know I've been an idiot lately, and I can't tell you why. It's… complicated but Lil and I are handling it. I shouldn't have stopped you seeing the twins; it was stupid and selfish of me and I need to start thinking straight again."

He nodded, careful not to rush to judgment. Whatever she needed to keep secret, he'd let her succeed, for now.

"So, forgive me?"

He smiled up at her. "I can't stay mad at you for long," he admitted. "But, please, can we talk about things before you panic again?"

"Okay," she agreed.

"You do realize," Lily piped up. "LJ just said 'please'. I knew I should have bought my tape recorder."

"You did," Jenny reminded her.

Lily's face split into a grin. "How could I have forgotten? So, LJ, what can I get you to do in return for the tape?"

THE END


End file.
